I am
not sure how my friends in Hong Kong heard that I was due to celebrate my
90th birthday on December 10. But
when they heard they immediately determined that part of that celebration
needed to be in Hong Kong with them as hosts. So they made all the arrangements
and I gladly accepted being there
November 1 to November7. Jane felt the trip would be too much for her (and she
was right) so son Tim accompanied me and that was also a good decision as his
youth and internet skills made for very smooth international and local travel.
When I
accepted my friends’ kind invitation I had only one instruction:” Keep it
simple.” I suggested 11 names of people with whom I thought it would be extra
nice to have a good Chinese birthday. We would eat in a room at the hotel and
they would come get me for my dinner. I was told to be ready for dinner on the day
after my arrival.
They
came to my room at the appointed time. When I was escorted to the dining room I
was greeted by a roomful of celebrants, 112 person-strong in a brightly
decorated room. They were all waiting for me. A very large birthday candle on a
very, very large birthday cake was ignited and the group broke into a joyous
version of Happy Birthday, first in English and then in Chinese and the celebration
was on
In the
midst of an incredible ten course meal accompanied by free-flowing
wine the program flowed- very ably emceed by Paul Chan Sing Kong-almost all in English! There was a
“Biography of Mel Kieschnick Contest” at
each table. Then each table selected one word to describe me. A spokesperson from each table came forward and explained why that word was chosen. Key words included
trust, leader, farmer, inspiration,
mentor, visionary etc. etc. Each speaker at the podium brought with him/her a gift (more about that
later) and made a 3 minute speech which
the master of ceremonies had a very difficult,
yet humorous time controlling. After each little speech the entire table of 12 persons came forward and a group
picture was taken-and I had the
opportunity to greet for a second or two each of the 112 wonderful guests. Of course, I was expected to make a speech,
which I joyfully did.
The
evening ended when I was presented with a very large artistically designed
Happy 90 Birthday Card with many hand-drawn birthday candles and a very large folded poster which contained a
picture of each table with each of the
guests having signed their name.
After a
rousing “ Old Lang Syne” sung twice and an even more joyous” Praise God
From Whom All Blessings Flow”, the glorious party came to an end.
The
second party, too, was a surprise. One of my hosts John Chu had told me that
he was accompanying Tim and me to Concordia Church on Sunday morning for Sunday morning worship with that
congregation. I was especially pleased
with that as so many years ago I had worshipped with that congregation, helped write its first constitution
We got
stuck in traffic crossing the harbor between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon
and arrived at church late. The service was already under way. Of course we were escorted to the front row. The
entire service was in Chinese but they
had prepared an English Order of Worship and an outline of the sermon to help
Tim (and me follow). After the service
there were speeches and then opportunity for my former students-including also
4 who (some with tears in their eyes)
told me they learned to read and write in a simple little evening school I had organized some 50 years ago, Then a
big congregation dinner followed. The catered
food (Chinese) was wonderful. Naturally
there had be another gift-giving ceremony-and hundreds of photos as everyone had a cell phone camera and was anxious
to record one more memory!
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