Hey, you! ☀️☀️
Sadly, we're not many Filipinos in the city where we currently live. It took several years before we met our first Filipino friend and we instantly clicked! It's really not something I thought about before leaving the Philippines. I knew I was going to miss the food, but I underestimated missing the people.
Anyways, our Filipino friend - let's call her N - invited us to celebrate her birthday. She prepared a big party for her 50th birthday last year, but unfortunately because of the Covid situation, it was impossible for us to go.
This year was a bit less complicated so we celebrated with her in the countryside at her partner's house with friends and family. Her family from Paris came and they are absolutely adorable. We love spending time with them!
We were invited for lunch time and so we took the opportunity to drive to Verdun early morning since it's not so far from them. The Husband had never been to Verdun before so a little visit was due. Unfortunately, the weather was weird - a tug of war between clouds and rain. Verdun is about an hour away, but as soon as we got there it started pouring hard. Raining cats and dogs and it just wouldn't stop. Immediately we knew that our plans had to be changed. For those who don't know me - I do not tolerate rain on me!
There are 2 ways of going to Verdun from Metz. You can either take the highway and pay a toll or you can take the departmental road which is free. It doesn't take much more time to take the departmental road and you don't have to pay anything!
Funnily enough, when we got to our friend's party the rain finally calmed down. We had a wonderful lunch, mostly Filipino dishes. Pancit, Lumpia, Grilled Chicken and Pork - yummmm! 😋😋
What more could you ask for? Oh yeah, delicious dessert! We picked up that Apple Tart in a boulangerie in Verdun. It was really good!
I remember reading this quote about age years ago "Live your life and forget your age" and I couldn't help but think of N. Personally, I don't think 51 is old, but I do know a lot of people who at 50 feel like they've already lived their life. N isn't like that at all and that's one thing I admire about her. She's all about living her present life and going after new experiences. After her divorce, she opened herself to fall in love again. She also quit her former job to go after a new opportunity. I feel like she is at the happiest I've known her and I'm so happy for her! We see each other less nowadays, but she knows we're always there for her. And vice versa.