Events,  Family & Friends

Happy 30th birthday Fadeelah

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to Fadeelah
Happy birthday to you

It would be hard to supply 30 reasons why you’re awesome, why you’re an amazing sister, why you’re a great friend, and why I’m sure you’re a fabulous wife. It will be so hard because how can I cut down the list to only 30 reasons? It’s a near impossible task. 

But I want to make a list of 30 moments that we spent together that I cherish and look back on fondly. Even this is hard, because I have to reduce an original list of a gazillion down to only 30. But I’ll try, in no particular order of awesomeness, period of event or length of time. Some of these moments are instantaneous, and some last several minutes, hours or days.

So here it goes…

  1. When we made national prime time news last year.
  2. When we started our first, scary day of university together at UCT doing Electrical Engineering.
  3. That time we thought the Drawings exam was in the morning, and it was in the afternoon, and we didn’t bring our stuff along to study, so we went to hang out at Rhodes Memorial.
  4. When we didn’t want to go back home to get study material for item 3 above, in order to save petrol money, and then failed the Drawings exam.
  5. That time you and our other friends would never let me forget getting a 2 (out of 25) for a 1st year Physics test when I thought I’d aced it.
  6. When we went to see the Eskom Training manager to state our case and convince him to let us change to Electrical & Computer Engineering, and he refused.
  7. That time I kept salad dressing in my bag for weeks and one day on Jammie Plaza it burst all over my books. You asked: Why do you have salad dressing in your bag? My answer: Just in case… I would NEVER hear the end of this.
  8. That time when you took turns in 1-hour shifts with me to sit in front of the Physics lecturer’s door to wait for her to come so that I can query my lab mark.
  9. The times in 1st year when we woke up in the morning and asked the other across the room… We gonna skip 1st period? And then rolled over to sleep some more. (this happened OFTEN)
  10. That time in 3rd year when we finally understood Control Systems a bit a day before the exams, after being clueless in the subject for the WHOLE year.
  11. When you were supposed to be in hospital, escaped from the ward and messaged me to say you took a taxi to Claremont and went shopping, because you were already tired of lying in bed for so long.
  12. Suffering together and dondering each other in the karate dojo.
  13. When we graduated together.
  14. When we trained for and did our first 5km road running race, and decided to “quit” running immediately after.
  15. When we started running again a few weeks after item 14, did the Gun Run 5km and half collapsed after the race but said: Next year we must do the 10km.
  16. When the  year after item 15 above, we did the Gun Run 21km. 
  17. When we did our first 21km half marathon when the coach told us not to, on a day we could hardly see the road driving to the place because it was storming so much.
  18. When we walked through the streets of Victoria Falls alone one night for kilometres, all the time trying to not encounter the hippo (the most dangerous animal in Africa) that we were warned was on the loose in town.
  19. Early in the Eskom days, running away from cows and jumping over the wire fence when we went to site on a farm one day.
  20. Getting a mudbath when unsuccessfully trying to jump over a river (ok ok, a stream) at a site, and sitting on the riverbank sopnat and laughing. And then having to go back to the office in this state. 
  21. Our awesome safari trip in Zimbabwe… bungying, white water rafting, game drives, helicopter flips, elephant riding, looking for food & finding empty shop shelves, and generally having an awesome time.
  22. That time in high school when we both landed up on the school 4-man Mindwalk team even though they used independent testing.
  23. When the Mindwalk work got serious and we worked through the night at school in the principal’s office using the office resources (and accidentally set the school’s alarm off at 2am).
  24. When our MindWalk team made the national finals and we went to Jo’burg under the supervision of Marc Lottering.
  25. The day I found out I got the new job in 2010, came to training at the athletics track and told you and Quaseem, and we shouted and jumped up and down for joy together.
  26. Walking the Hajj, and standing on the plans of Arafat together.
  27. When we got lost trying to get back to Azizia all alone from the Haram, took the wrong bus and landed up in the middle of nowhere, with baggage of 10 litres of zamzam.
  28. When I seconded you on your debut marathon, and you seconded me on mine the following year.
  29. The day you got married (was super sad for me, hence I cried the whole day, but it was one big amazing moment).
  30. When you talked me out of giving up on doing the triathlon when a few weeks before the race I didn’t see how I could be ready for the swim in time.

OMG and there I’m on 30 and I’m still far from done. Why do you have to be turning 30? Couldn’t you be turning 50 or something? Hehehe. 

Happy birthday Fadeelah...

Of the many things I admire about you is your strength, courage, wisdom and sincerity. 

Stay the amazing and beautiful person that you are, and may you be abundantly blessed, always.

Thank you for being what you are to me. Love you lots! 

Hey shorty…
It’s your birthday…
We’re gonna party like it’s your birthday…

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