Mira
My most cherished birthday memory happened when I turned 25.
My most cherished birthday memory happened when I turned 25. I'd been feeling a bit homesick, having moved to Denmark from India for work just a few months earlier. My new friends decided to throw me a surprise party, but with a twist. They asked me to meet them at a local community garden, which I thought was odd for a February birthday. When I arrived, I was amazed to see they'd turned one of the greenhouses into a mini-India! They'd strung up colorful saris as decorations, set up a table full of homemade Indian dishes (some more successful than others, but the effort was incredible), and even managed to find a playlist of Bollywood hits. The best part was seeing my Danish friends awkwardly trying to dance to bhangra music. It was a hilarious and heartwarming mix of my two worlds. We ended the night huddled under blankets, drinking chai, and stargazing through the greenhouse roof. It wasn't the big city celebration I might have had back home, but it was perfect in its own way. That night, I realized I'd found a new family halfway across the world.
