I have a birthday twin - Chloe Pailthorpe. It has been a surprising and very lovely addition to my life, who knew sharing a birthday could be so grand?! I recognised Chloe as a kindred spirit right from our first meeting and we have grown to be the very best of friends over the years. Every year that we have known each other, we have celebrated our shared birthday, the 12th of August with morning tea's, dinners out, going to the movies. I find I look forward to my birthday even more now and it is so true that 'happiness shared is happiness doubled.' Both of us also share the love language of gift giving so each year we have the fun of dreaming up something special for each other and then the joy of opening our gifts and watching the other open theirs. It is truly a highlight of birthday season and a special bit of magic in my life.
This year was the first year we haven't lived in the same town. Our friendship remains strong with weekly audio messages, a tradition we have kept for many years, even when we lived 5 minutes away from each other in Bungendore. Over audio we conjured up the idea to take a little weekend away for our birthday, somewhere half way. It's our first one apart and my 40th so we wanted to do something special. I found a beautiful Bed and Breakfast - the Willows in Kurrajong in the lower Blue Mountains and it turned out to be the perfect spot. A quiet, lovely place we might not have otherwise thought to even go. It's a beautiful town nestled amongst the dense trees, reachable by windy roads that traverse the hills. We met at a café on the main street and it was lovely to see each other for the first time in quite a few months. We ate lunch and had an explore of the town. They had a beautiful yarn store, where I bought a poncho for Lily and admired their lovely work. We made our way to the Anglican Church on the hill and had a walk around their grounds. We both love old churches, especially Chloe and they are so peaceful and interesting to take a wander through. We drove the next few minutes to our Bed and Breakfast, which was even more lovely than expected. We met with the owners, a couple who we instantly found connections with and settled into our accommodation which had a perfect little sitting room and a beautiful bedroom. After some more catch up's and a rest we headed into the Royal Hotel in Richmond for some dinner. We ended the night we one of the highlights of our shared birthday - swapping gifts. I was beyond excited for Chloe to open hers. I'd spent the last couple of months working on a bonnet for her to take on her upcoming trip to England where she was going to Bath and attending the Jane Austen festival. She was so shocked, it was the best reaction ever and we laughed and laughed. I also gave her a little golden book about the Queen. Chloe was incredibly generous to me and showered me with gifts for my 40th. She gave me the matching vase and plate to the jug everyone bought me when I left Bungendore. They are so beautiful. She also gave me some books, magazines, my fav chocolate and a pair of Swarovski earrings, which I already had. Just shows how great minds think alike. I swapped them over for the same pair in green I had been eyeing. It was all so lovely and thoughtful and I adore every part of our gift giving.
We woke the next morning and made ourselves a little breakfast from ingredients left for us in the room and had breakfast on the veranda overlooking the sheep on the lawn. We had a lovely chat with the owners and Chloe found all sorts of ministry connections. It felt like this was exactly the place we were meant to be. We packed up our overnight bags and said goodbye, then headed to the Blue Mountains Botanic Gardens. Despite being winter, the garden was alive with all sorts of natives and even the daffodils were starting to make an appearance. It's a beautiful garden that overlooks the Blue Mountains which stretch out to the horizon. To finish off our weekend we wound our way through Bilpin and stopped for apple pie, pastries and apples for our journey home. We even got to see the big fruit bowl.
It's always hard to say goodbye. I miss having Chloe at arms reach but I'm so grateful for our friendship and that our audios really do make it feel like we are a part of each others every day lives. I've always felt as if Chloe was written into my script from the start, as though were meant to be in each others stories. I admire Chloe in so many ways, she has a beautiful heart for giving and showing empathy for others. I marvel at how much she achieves in a day and how many different things she runs or contributes too that have a real effect on peoples lives in the community. She lives her life with so much energy, enthusiasm, grace and charity. They way she approached life is an inspiration to me. I'm so blessed to learn from her and call her friend. Love you Chloe xx
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