I am far from home. Far from my country, far from my friends and my family. Far, far away from all my dreams and hopes.

So it is the 1st of December; Romania’s National Day. My 1st of December. My life. Deep feelings burning inside, for there are not so many celebrations that really matter to me. I have my mother’s birthday on April the 13th – but she always celebrates it on the 14th to show the world that she doesn’t believe in bad luck (yeah, superstition… but hey, you are not perfect either!). I have February the 22nd… my father’s birthday. I have March the 8th, a bitter celebration – the day my grandmother passed away and I was unable to say goodbye. I have August the 15th – my own birthday… pretty important, in critical years (turning 30 for instance… but hey… I am 31 now). I have the 25th of August – and I am still not ready to talk about that… I have September the 22nd – Liliana’s birthday. She is my best friend, my sister and without her life couldn’t be better! Her smile and laughter always make me happy. She has no idea how special she is to me. Sometimes I wished I could be more like her. Oh! Wait! I guess I am paraphrasing Destiny’s Child “Thank You”. Yeah… it’s matching. I also have the 24th of September, another bitter day… I rarely talk about that too. The 8th of November – my name day: it reminds me of what I should be. And the 1st of December: Romania’s National Day.

Please don’t ask about Christmas and Easter! These are Religious holidays. Sure I care and respect them. But now I am going to talk about what matters today: my country.

Happy birthday, dear misunderstood Latin oasis! People around the world don’t know You. They believe You are a Slavic country. There’s nothing wrong with being Slavic… it’s just not Your identity. You are Latin, God bless You! And it’s really time my clients, my readers and my foreign friends really understand that! Happy Day, my wonder! Well, all this “happy this” and “happy that” quack will get my readers confused. I need to tell you that Romanians are simple people, with simple values and the best way to say “happy … something” is: “La Multi Ani!”.

So, La Multi Ani, Romania! I am proud to be Your daughter. I miss you and I know where my home really is. I miss You and Your people, Your mountains and Your wild rivers, Your wolves (none in Germany… people KILL wolves here!!!) and Your bears (yes, my Beauty, the same reason. Bears are to be killed in this country!), the Delta (my paradise) and the Black Sea…I miss Bucharest, my little Paris (I was born there) and Transylvania. I miss You, Romania! I’ll always be Your daughter, I’ll never give up my identity. So, once again: La Multi Ani, Romania! May God bless You! You are not special, You are LIFE!

Thank you Tina Stephen for proofreading my post!