Birthday Blues

Birthday Blues

Alice was in no hurry to get out of bed on her birthday. She'd wangled a day off from the employment agency without letting it slip that she was turning thirty, and for this she was grateful. She'd witnessed the leg-pulling on other people's birthdays and knew it would have been twice as bad for her because thirty was a landmark age.
'Landmark age,' she thought bitterly. 'More like an iceberg age where you hit it and sink without a trace.'
It wasn't hard to tell that Alice wasn't impressed with going beyond the twenty-somethings. She felt like she was getting old and had achieved so little. She had a boyfriend, but no husband and no kids. She was still only renting, hadn't travelled much, the job was getting tedious, and however much she tried, she couldn't stop getting ladders in her tights.
Alice stared up at the white ceiling and sighed. Looking at the alarm clock on her bedside cabinet, she saw that it was just gone nine. On a normal working day she'd have been up well over two hours before.
Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she sat up. Alice yawned and stretched and then stood up in her pale nightie, its hem just above her knees.
She padded downstairs without bothering to get dressed or neaten her messy, blonde bob. The postman had been and there were a few envelopes on the doormat.
Alice crouched and gathered them into her hands. There was one bill, two items of junk mail, and three birthday cards. 'One from Mum, one from Dad, and the other from Kate,' she guessed, the latter being her younger sister.
Alice wandered through to the kitchen, put the kettle on, and then sat at the small, wooden table in the middle of the room. Putting the bill and junk mail aside, she looked at the handwriting on the birthday cards and opened the one she thought was from her mother.
A picture of a bouquet of flowers was on the front, reminding Alice of a condolences card. 'To my dearest daughter on this special day,' read the greeting inside, which was accompanied by fifty pounds.
Alice frowned and picked up the one from her Dad. Tearing open the envelope, she then opened the card and ten pounds fell onto the table. 'As generous as ever,' she mumbled sarcastically, reading the simple 'to a special daughter' inscription.
Lastly, she opened her sister's card. 'Happy 30th birthday to a woman who has everything,' was written above a picture of a woman relaxing by a pool. 'Except looks!' it said on the inside and Alice shook her head without even a hint of a smile.
'Thanks, sis,' she thought as she laid it on top of the other cards, slightly annoyed that Kate had mentioned the dreaded thirty even though everyone had been explicitly told not too. 'Typical!' she said as the kettle came to the boil.
Alice spent the rest of the day moping around the house, spending most of her time watching daytime TV in jeans and a navy T-shirt. She didn't want to think, wanted to get through the day without any contemplation of her life.
Just after seven there were three loud knocks on the front door. Alice jumped as she huddled beneath a peach coloured blanket on the settee. She knew immediately that it was John, her boyfriend for the past two years.
Pushing back the blanket, Alice got to her feet and left the lounge. Walking along the hall to the front door, she could see John's silhouette through the glass, streetlights shining behind him now that night had fallen.
She undid the latch and opened the door. 'Hi, John,' she said, trying to force a smile.
'Happy birthday, sexy,' greeted John, who was wearing black jeans and his trademark biker's jacket over a grey jumper.
'Is it?' she replied miserably.
'I really don't know why you're letting it get to you so much.'
'You wait, in two years time you'll know exactly what I'm going through. Besides, I've already told you what's wrong half a dozen times or so.' Alice frowned. 'You just don't listen.'
'I always listen to you, my Wonderland princess,' he replied in an attempt to diffuse her obvious agitation.
'Then you should know I'm completely hacked off with all this birthday rubbish and shouldn't be carrying a card in one hand and a present in the other.' Alice glared at him with an accusatory expression on her face.
John glanced down at the small jewellery box in his right hand and then nodded weakly. 'Guilty as charged,' he admitted, 'but I think you're letting this age thing get to you far too much.'
'Really?' huffed Alice, crossing her arms over her chest.
John sighed and shook his head sadly. 'Look up there,' he said, pointing at the night sky. 'You see the light from the stars?'
Alice looked up for a moment and then turned back to him. 'What about it?'
'It's millions of years old, but it still sparkles.'
'So what?' asked Alice with growing irritation, wishing he'd get to the point.
'It's not how old you are or what you've achieved that matters, it's how bright you shine, and you shine brightest of all to me,' he said as their gazes locked.
A smile slowly dawned on Alice's face.
John continued to look into her blue eyes as he went down on one knee and held out the jewellery box in his right hand. 'And that's why I want you to marry me,' he said sincerely. 'Will you take me to be your husband?'
Alice stared at him in amazement for a moment as he opened the box to reveal a beautiful ring of white-gold. 'Yes,' she whispered eventually, the light of the stars reflected in her tear filled eyes.