The day I turned 27

a solo birthday that ended up not being that solo

Bali, Indonesia — September 17th, 2024

“OMG, LOOK, IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!!!” I yelled, shoving my phone screen in front of the faces of people I had met barely an hour ago.

They, genuinely happy for me, started hugging me, offering a mix of life advice and well wishes, followed by the inevitable question if we should all take tequila shots. We wisely decided against it, considering we had already poisoned our bodies with approximately five liters of beer.

A few hours prior to this scene, my daughter and I had arrived in a charming village in the north of Bali, not knowing a soul. In all my 26 years, I had never spent a birthday completely on my own, so this was a first. I wasn’t sure how to feel about it, especially since I would consider myself a birthday princess—aka someone who LIVES for birthdays and accepts nothing less than the best day ever.