Birthday

We take birthday wishes seriously in Convivia. We keep presents small and homemade, as the real celebration is in the cake. Cakes are dreamed up layer by layer, often years in advance. Olive wishes for her eighth birthday were a stuffed mouse, a watch, pizza for dinner, and a caramel, chocolate, marshmallow and chocolate ganache layer cake. All of her wishes seemed totally reasonable thanks to my mom sending a birthday watch to us before we even left Brisbane. I had a stuffed mouse pattern on board, along with fabric and stuffing. I stowed a stash of Belgian chocolate under my bed in June and in Darwin I packed into my teeny tiny fridge the cream, butter, and mozzarella necessary for the big day. Somewhere along the way Olive decided on a bigger wish, “I want to see dragons on my birthday.” ...

I feel like I’ve been moving at light speed for the last five days. We arrived in Cairns on Sunday. Unlike a lot of marinas in Australia, the arrival was really smooth. The marina left keys for us so we could access the showers and be free to come and go at night, and they were very relaxed about check in protocols. After 12 days of passage making (with one trip to shore on Maggie) we were more than eager to grab a familiar burger at Grill’d. It was nice to finally relax and get a full night’s sleep. ...

It’s not an unfamiliar scene on Convivia. It’s the night before a present giving event, and Vick and I are wondering if we should run out and get one or two more things. “We have Ruby’s presents (the most substantial expenditures this year at $24), and my 6” handmade felt pterodactyl, and… that’s it." Our cultural programming was going haywire. I pretty much assume that a birthday or christmas is going to run ~$300/kid when it’s all said and done. Was this going to be the worst birthday ever? ...

The first day of my fortieth trip around the sun began in darkness. No, this isn’t a metaphor, it’s 3am. Vick woke me with a kiss. “Happy birthday, it’s your watch,” she said through her smile. I’m 39. This is one of those birthdays that should feel insignificant in comparison to it’s immediate neighbor, but I actually feel sorry for 40. I mean how could forty compare to a year that starts with stars, salty kisses, sea air, and phosphorescents. ...

We were all excited to get to Tahiti of course. The excitement was partially because it was Tahiti and partly because it was one of the few places in the South Pacific that we were pretty certain we could receive birthday presents for Tucker and Ruby. We anchored by Marina Tahina for a bit and picked up our new spinnaker and even a wifi antenna (both shipped from the US). It was exciting to have mail from the States after many months without. ...

September has been a month of goodbyes and getting-to-know-yas. It’s been a month of changing weather (for the better) and changing government (for the worse). It’s been full of laughter, outdoor play and exciting summery events. We are all feeling like Brisbane is home, and except for the outrageous cost; and missing our family and friends back home; we are just delighted to be able to say that. In the spirit of photo-blogging when I don’t have enough new things to say, here’s another montage of our month. Hopefully the captions will tell our story well.

The count down to birthdays happens early with Ruby. She counts the months, the weeks, the days. She plans her cake, remembers the ones that have come before, and has a pending list of the cakes for three future birthdays. She knows that she has about 50 weeks now to finalize the next one. So, as with every year, she invented and confirmed the cake, dug out the party flags and invited her friends. ...

From time to time I am reminded that my culture has no coming of age tradition. Some of the effects of this deficit are subtle, some more obvious. This weekend, as I near my 35th birthday I experienced another Man Making Moment. Man Making Moments are different for everyone. I suspect many are like me and derive some significant part of their manliness ideal from their fathers. For me, the image of my dad under the hood, fixing, tuning and explaining our car’s inner workings, has left a mark. ...

Olive rang in her 1.5 year birthday like a princess. I arrived home to both kids yelling “ta-da” and showing me their beautifully painted faces. . We had some wonderful fajitas for dinner and then a 6 minute chocolate cake with home made whipped cream for desert. Olive reveled while Ruby led the group in a round of Halfy Birthday to Olive…