𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜 ➯ 𝚐. 𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚕 // 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚞𝚕𝚊 𝚘𝚗𝚎

𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎 - 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚎𝚡𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚊 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚢

2008

12 august. also known to the moon family as isla's birthday. also known as a very important day.

isla hated celebrating her birthday, and never understood why people made a big deal about it, so her birthday was always a small affair, with a nice dinner at home with some friends and family, and a few small presents. they usually invited isla's friends from school, but now that they were in the uk, it was no longer possible, so they invited the russells.

when rhea invited them to isla's "birthday party", she failed to realise that her family's meaning of "party" wasn't the same as everybody else's.

when george heard the word "party" he thought it would be a big birthday bash, because that's what some of his friends at school had.

so as the russell family arrived at the moon household, holding a present for isla, they were surprised to see that the house looked the same as usual, except there was the distinct smell of potatoes floating from the kitchen.

as rhea opened the door, george asked, "this isn't much of a party, is it?"

"well, it's our kind of party, which is not exactly a party for some people, but it's enough for us." she replied, a small smile gracing her features.

she welcomed them in, as ana, also known as mama, laid the table with a traditional māori boil-up as well as some traditional rēwena bread, and they all took a seat at the table in the backyard.

the food was different to what the english family was used to, but to them, it tasted amazing, not that much different from the food they were used to, to their surprise. after all, modern māori cuisine is heavily inspired by old english cuisine they had brought over from europe.

talk flowed easily between everyone at the table, the kids talking among themselves and the adults engaged in "adult talk", sometimes asking isla questions like "how does it feel like to be 14?". 

and although the food was being finished up, the laughter and chatter never stopped, because they were all family. and as they moved towards the living room, presents were handed out.

the russells had given her a new backpack for the school year. rhea had secretly told them that isla's original schoolbag had gotten a hole in it while moving and they decided to get her a new one. 

mama and papa gave her a new phone, her first. they decided that she was old and independent enough to have one and decided to give it to her for her birthday. 

finally, rhea handed over her gift. it was a notebook with a handmade cover. inside it contained photos from their childhood, of isla with her childhood friends, family, in new zealand. rhea had asked isla's friends to email photos over, printing them out and completing the photo album at george's place so the surprise wouldn't get ruined.

"thank you guys so much, this is the best birthday ever. i thought it would be terrible since i'm no longer in new zealand, but i think it's going to be good here, and it's just the beginning." isla smiled. she didn't expect any of this. she was absolutely over the moon with her presents and couldn't wish for any other way to celebrate her birthday. although she missed her kiwi friends like crazy, she knew they would be with her in her heart forever, and she would get probably a bunch of birthday emails while she was asleep and their day began.