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Michael Jordan, A horror movie starring Jim Carrey, the amount of flavors in Dr. Pepper... What do all of these things have in common... well the number 23 of course. Twenty three just so happens the age I turned on February 23rd this year, making it my "Golden Birthday".
I use to spend a lot of my childhood days dreaming about the day "when I turn 23" and just how magical it would be. There would be fireworks, lots of money, exotic animals and a freshly printed Vogue magazine with my face on the cover. Yes, all that and more would welcome me on my special day of becoming golden or so I thought. Even though none of those things greeted me on that day what I experienced was just as equivalent. I got my golden birthday that felt just like a fairy tale! To capture just how magical this day was maybe I should start from the top, this time properly...
Once upon a time there was a princess named Aki. On the 23rd day in February Aki awoke to birds singing and trees dancing in the clear blues skies of Versailles, France. She turned in the bed to give her sleeping son Z a kiss on the forehead. She snuck quietly out of the room to greet the cottage, sun and chickens plucking about in the yard...
As Aki was taking in the glorious weather, her brother came through the gates. He had just walked to the bakery and picked up some fresh croissants filled with chocolate, eggs and juice. The prepared breakfast and ate in the dining room over looking the backyard of the cottage, accompanied by baby Z.
Before Aki went to France she knew that on her birthday she wanted to go to the Chateau de Versailles, a historical palace in France. She had wanted to go there ever since she saw a picture of it many, many years ago. So many years she spent staring at the pictures of the palace and wishing that somehow, some way she'd have a chance to stand in a real palace and marvel at all of it's beauty. Today was that day, it was the day she would be in the golden palace on her golden birthday.
After Breakfast she got dressed and adorned herself with jewelry and a hot pink beret she just bought in Paris the day before. She even put a gold thread in her hair to celebrate this golden day. Aki, her brother and baby Z rode their chariot (the bus) to the golden gates of the Chateau De Versailles. Walking up to the golden gates had Aki wondering if perhaps people mistook this palace for heaven, maybe this was actually what the bible was referencing. It felt like heaven at least. She had never seen so much gold and it was only just the exterior.
She was free to roam the palace. They spent hours looking at hundreds of marble statues, checkered marble floors, hundreds of oil masterpieces that covered the high ceilings and walls, Chandeliers, Gowns, Furniture where Kings and Queens once sat and even dreamed. Aki saw the antiques, The Famous Hall of Mirrors, glorious Theater and of course every thing was lined with gold. All this and more lead to one of the most wondrous spectacles, the garden. Acres upon acres of manicured land with labyrinths, fountains, trees, lakes and ponds and so many places to get lost and found. It was breathtaking.
Aki sat in front of a fountains with marbles statues spewing water and over looked the expanding vista of the garden and behind her was the enormous, majestic palace. She made her birthday wish and ate her mouthwatering delicious Pale Blue "Marie Antoinette" Macaroon while staring at this almost surreal vision before her. She sat for a little and pondered how she manifested such a perfect moment. How did she go from having $1 to sitting on the steps of one of the most historical and beautiful palaces in the world in just a few weeks. She thought deeply about what more can/will she manifest if this dream had come true? She felt blissful, magical and like anything was possible.
Stay tuned for more stories for Aki and her Europe adventures.