I was hoping to get a few more minutes of sleep since it is the school holidays when I suddenly remembered that it will be Mother's birthday tomorrow and I have not started making anything for her yet. I leapt out of bed with surprising agility and landed on tip-toes with a soft thud. I had to get to work, immediately. Ever since Father passed away, it was only me and Mother left. Therefore, we tried to make every tiny occasion as special as possible because his passing taught us that one day, we will pass on like he did and this made us want to treasure every moment of life. Luckily, Mother was currently doing paperwork in her office as today is a working day so I have plenty of time to do what I need to do and none of the time must be wasted on laziness or procrastination. I took a blank piece of paper and made a schedule of what I will do later and would happen tomorrow.
"First, I make the cake and a card for her. Book reservations at her favourite restaurant......" I mumbled to myself as I jotted down what would happen today and the next day's activities.
It would just be a simple celebration, nothing too fancy. I will be preparing her a cake and will be taking her out for dinner. I will also make a birthday card for her later to thank her for all that she has done and wish her happy birthday. I walked into the kitchen, took out a recipe book to make a cake and flipped through its pages, wondering what type of cake I should make. Just then, I saw a recipe through the blur of the flipping pages that said, Raspberry, lemon cheesecake. I stopped flipping through the recipe book and went back to that page. 'That's it! Mother loves cheesecakes and she likes weird flavours mixed together too! This is definitely the best one in this book yet.' I thought to myself, excited to get started. When I looked inside the pantry, I was glad to see that the ingredients were there and I gave a sigh of relief, pleased that I did not have to go to the supermarket to buy some ingredients for the cake.
I sifted the flour, measured the right number of raspberries, and grated the lemon for lemon zest. At last, the batter was ready to be poured into a pan, frozen and eaten the following day. 'Phew... At least I have one thing off my mind now.' I thought, as I placed the pan somewhere in the refrigerator where Mother will not find it. I was exhausted as I usually buy a cake instead of baking one and it has been a while since I last baked. It also took me quite some time to get the hang of sifting the flour and the grater kept slipping out of my grasp when I grated the lemons. I collapsed on the comfortable, light blue armchair wanting to rest but sternly told myself to get up as I still had things not done.
I got up feeling a little tired and lazy and did not want to do what I needed to. However, I motivated myself by reminding myself that Mother is already old and might be gone soon so I must make tomorrow a special birthday that she would never forget. I went to call Mother's favourite restaurant to book a reservation for dinner tomorrow before going to the study room to take a piece of paper, some colouring materials, markers and a pencil. I folded the paper in half, wrote 'Happy Birthday" in big, bold letters using my decorative marker and opened inside to write a message to her. Satisfied that everything has been done, I sat on my armchair and watched television for a while before doing my holiday home work.
The second day, I woke up feeling refreshed and energized again. Once again Mother was at work and I still had time to perfect my card and cake. I went to check on how the cake was turning out and was contented that the batter was set and it was ready to be decorated. I took out a piping bag and filled it with some chilled raspberry butter cream that I had made the previous day and piped it on the edge of the round cheesecake. For the finishing touch, I placed some curled pieces of white chocolate and some fresh raspberries on the top.
"There!" I exclaimed proudly, "now that's what I call a masterpiece!"
I placed it back into the refrigerator and went to edit my card. However, I was horrified to see that it was shredded into many pieces and my cat, Snowball, was sitting on my desk, looking innocently at me. I stared at her angrily, suspecting that she was the one who ruined it. 'Oh no! I shouldn't have left it on my desk.' I looked down at my watch which was fastened tightly on my right wrist and was relieved to see that I still had a lot of time before Mother comes home. I rushed to get some more materials to make a new card for Mother, this one will definitely be kept safely away from Snowflake. My hard work had totally paid off when I looked at the finished product, a brand-new card that was even better than the one that was shredded.
Since I still have quite some time to spare, I decided to decorate the house a little to surprise Mother as soon as enters the house. I pumped some balloons with helium air to make them float and a banner with 'Happy Birthday' was strung at the entrance of our house. I also made a short and quick trip to the convenient store in our neighbourhood to buy some party poppers and streamers. As I waited for Mother to arrive home, I picked a mind-blowing outfit to wear to the restaurant along with some cute and stylish flats to go with it.
I sat on my armchair which was near to the front door and re-read one of my favourite books, 'The Hunger Games' while I waited patiently for Mother to arrive home. Soon, I could hear the 'click clack' of her high heel shoes as she walked the pavement leading to our house. I hurried to the door, took hold of the party poppers, turned off the lights and got ready for her to walk through the door.
"Surprise!" I yell as I twisted the party popper, causing the confetti inside to pop out, littering the floor with tiny pieces of them along with the streamers that I had laid on the floor earlier when I was decorating.
Mother looked stunned and could not believe her eyes. Her eyes widened in shock and amazement and she seemed to be non-verbally asking me, "how did you do this all by yourself?"
I took a second glance and was taken aback by what I did. My mouth fell and I now thought the same as Mother, 'how could I have done this by myself?' I brought Mother in and told her to change into something nice before leaving and changing into the outfit I prepared earlier. When I finished, Mother was not ready yet and I took the cake out of the refrigerator and placed it in a box to take it to the restaurant so that we could eat it there as desert after we have finished eating. When Mother was ready, I took the car keys and got into the driver's seat.
"Can't have the birthday girl tiring herself too much, can we?" I stated, grinning as I patted the passenger seat beside me, indicating that she should sit there. Mother replied with a laugh, and said teasingly, "Of course not."
After a short drive, we finally arrived with our stomachs growling in hunger, we stepped into the restaurant and I could immediately smell the fragrance of the food cooking. I could not wait to start eating! I requested to have our table at somewhere quiet so that Mother and I could have conversations without anyone hearing. I also gave the box containing the cake to him and the waiter nodded and brought us to a table before placing the box in the refrigerator.
After Mother and I finished eating, the lights suddenly turned off. Luckily, none of the diners were scared as they were informed that it would be happening. Then, a waiter wheeled the cheesecake that I made the day before with a few other waiters by his side, clapping their hands and singing the happy birthday song. I joined in with them and started singing too. When they finished, I told Mother to make a wish then blow out the candle. She clasped her hands together, closed her eyes and made her wish.
"Whoosh..." Mother blew out the candle, cut the cake and the lights were switched back on. The diners clapped their hands and resumed eating their dinner and some of the diners who were our neighbours came over to wish Mother happy birthday. Mother seemed to be glowing with happiness. She turned, wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tightly.
"Thank you for putting in so much effort just to celebrate my birthday. I love you." She said, still hugging me.
I pulled away from the hug and beamed, glad that I managed to make Mother's birthday celebration a joyous and memorable one. Mother cut out several pieces of cake and placed one on her plate and one on mine. We slowly savoured the cake, tasting all the flavours. It was delicious! The lemon and raspberry flavour balanced out each other nicely but it did not overpower the cheese taste. Mother looked impressed by the way it tasted and I was amazed at how good it was since I am not an avid baker and do not bake often.
Theday ended fast with the moon and stars coming out and shining brightly and webrought the remaining pieces of cake home to eat as desert for tomorrow. Thisday has to be one of the best days in my entire life.
