Last year, I told myself that I would spend my 27th birthday either at home, in Toronto, or in Peru at Machu Picchu. While Machu Picchu didn’t work out exactly for my birthday, I’m happy that I didn’t have to choose and got to go to both destinations in September and October of this year. I ended up home in Toronto for my friends’ engagement party and decided to stay until Tuesday instead of flying back on Sunday so I could celebrate my birthday (on Monday) at home.
This was the first time I was celebrating my birthday at home in 5 years. The last time I was home for my birthday was after I graduated college and before I moved to Portland. (I actually was supposed to be in Portland for my birthday but moved my flight because I didn’t want to celebrate my birthday by myself in a new city.) The time before that was my last year of high school when I had my big Sweet 16 birthday bash. To me, this birthday was a big deal too. Not necessarily the actual day–I’m actually not a fan of my birthday for various reasons–but more because I was turning 27. I’ve never felt “old” on my birthday, I’ve always embraced my new age. (That’s probably because the majority of my friends are older than me, so I’ve already seen them go turn that age and it was fine!) I don’t know why, but I’ve always been excited about turning 27. I feel 27 is an age where you’re still young enough to make mistakes and bounce back pretty easily, but you’re also old enough to have some idea about where you’re going. (Then again, that could just be in my head.) But I was turning 27 and I wanted to do something different; cue, EdgeWalk at the CN Tower.
Now that I knew what I wanted to do, who was I going to do it with? Now we all know that I usually have no problem doing things alone–and I was ok with doing EdgeWalk on my own–but what’s the fun in spending your birthday alone? I asked my friends…and they all said no. I was prepared to go on a solo birthday excursion when I asked my brother, who is afraid of heights, and to my shock and surprise, he said yes.
Soon enough, it was time for our adventure and the man was NERVOUS. Never have I seen my brother so nervous before, but he was determined to go through with it. It was funny, actually, seeing roles being reversed. Usually he’s the one who doesn’t get phased by much, he goes with the flow and he’ll like to take charge. In this instance, I actually was the first one out the door and the first one doing the “tricks” once we were up on the deck. To his credit, he embraced his nervousness and used his sense of humor to make the best of it. I’m pretty sure he asked every EdgeWalk employee if anyone’s ever died doing this and to prepare themselves because he’d likely be the first–they all thought he was pretty hilarious.
But he was wrong. We did it. We survived. And we had a blast! It was absolutely beautiful! We were the only two people who had booked our tour time so it turned into a private walk. Being the last walk of the day, the staff at EdgeWalk timed the walk so that it would coincide with sunset, which made for some beautiful views of Toronto! It was also an extremely clear day so we could see some of New York (state) on the horizon as well as both the moon and the sun during our walk. Our tour guide and my brother even sang, “Happy Birthday!”, to me!
Even though it terrified him, I’m glad that my brother decided to go up against his fear for my sake. It was a birthday I won’t forget and I gotta give mad props and love to my big brother for making it special!
