Happy Birthday, Grace!

Today, December 9th, is my birthday. December 9th isn’t really a noteworthy date for a birthday, and other than Donny Osmond and Grace Hopper (who’s Grace Hopper?), I don’t really share that birth date with any one really important. No great historical events seemed to have happened on that day, except of course, as everybody knows, in 1941, China issued a formal declaration of war against Japan, Germany, and Italy. And then there’s December 9th,1992, when Buckingham Palace announced the separation of Prince Charles and Princess Diana...another earth shaking news event.

Today, my first birthday in Africa went well. Arrived at school early, opened up my Facebook and was greeted with birthday wishes from friends. Then the phone rang. It was Nadine wanting to wish her favorite dad a happy birthday. It’s 5 to 8 here, meaning it’s very close to 5 to 2AM in Saskatoon...turns out she’s on the 17th hour of a working marathon, attempting to get a report completed before her morning deadline. Memories of my university days...

Handed the phone over to Madeleine because the morning assembly was about to begin. As expected, the whole continent of Africa, and a bit of southern Europe appeared to know that it was my birthday, thanks to you know who.

The kids sang me happy birthday. Like a girl, I got a bit choked up. I thanked them, and I told them that I had just gotten off the phone with my daughter who was in Canada, and was presently building a snowman in a snowbank in a snowstorm, in - 58 degrees weather. It was obvious that most of them hadn’t a clue of what I was talking about. However, I could tell that Nelda, our youngest nursery school space cadet understood, or at least he appeared to have understood because he was grinning from ear to ear, which is something he doesn’t do often, because he’s a space cadet, and space cadets don’t usually grin. Or perhaps, just maybe, he was grinning because he was sitting right next to the slab of chocolate cake with the bright sprinkly things on it...and he had perhaps figured out that whatever was going on with the big white guy in front talking about something called snow and Canada and daughter, there would eventually be some eating of cake involved in all of this. But then, come to think of it, space cadets rarely figure things like that out.

Anyways, before cutting the cake, I told the kids that my daughter had asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I answered that I didn’t want anything because, being head of a wonderful school with wonderful kids and teachers, there was really nothing left on this planet that I could possibly want. I meant it.

Cake was good, baked by one of our Lebanese mothers. I’ve learned that one cannot go wrong with Lebanese mothers when it comes to baking or cooking. Couldn’t really make out the writing on the cake though; the icing had melted in the heat (after all, it was already 8:15AM). It must have said Happy Birthday or something...maybe I should ask Nelda.

So, that’s how my first birthday in Africa began. Neat day. Madeleine is presently preparing my special birthday supper...Chawarmas from the neighborhood hole-in-the-wall Lebanese joint and Orange Fanta. After supper, we’ll settle in our faux leather embassy couch and look at episode 18, 19, and possibly 20 of the second season of LOST. Promises to be a fitting closing to another memorable day.

Oh yeah, almost forgot... who the heck is Grace Hopper? Grace Hooper was born on the same day as I, but back in 1906. She would have been the same age as my father. Admiral Grace Hopper was a distinguished naval officer and computer scientist, but that is not why I admire her. Grace was a cool chick, who said cool things. One of her famous quotes, I’ve used many a times and I continue to use a lot. “It is easier to apologize than to get permission”. The other quote of hers that I like lends itself well to what I have experienced these past 6 months...” A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are for. Sail out to sea and do new things.” Sail on.