Woot.
If I'm not brimming over with excitement it's just because most of my birthdays have been underwhelming if not outright disappointing. I think a lot of it has to do with the timing: close to the beginning of the school year, usually around the Jewish High Holidays, etc. There's usually a lot of distractions. Also, mid-September is quite the popular time for birthdays (think about all those people getting drunk on New Years or without much to do in the cold weeks that follow) so it feels like trying to open a movie with 4 other new releases the same weekend.
Why do we as a culture make such a big deal over birthdays anyway? I get that before modern medicine parents would want to celebrate their child having survived their early years of life. And after doing extensive Google research (and by extensive I mean clicking on the top 3 links) I have learned that the birthday celebration's origins lie in *SURPRISE!* magic and paganism. So does the fact that in today's modern age we continue celebrating throughout our young adulthood mean we are just narcissistic and grossly self-celebratory? (Hint: it does.)
Truthfully I don't think there's anything wrong with enjoying being the center of attention for one day out of the year. But my past birthdays have proven to me that I should perhaps refrain from getting too excited:
Three years ago, for my 25th, both my brother and one of my favorite people in the world, a friend I made while working on the job that took me to China, were in town visiting. Brother and I had tickets to the USC vs. OSU football game and the following day the three of us were going to the Aquarium in Long Beach. Sounds awesome right? It ended up being one of those birthdays with both extreme highs and extreme lows. Brother and I almost got stranded in South Downtown LA after Ohio State lost (badly. waaahh). It was actually a pretty frightening experience. But then two of the hot male stars of the show "Brothers & Sisters" happened to be at the same bar where I was having birthday drinks (yay). The Aquarium was fun (yay), but I later learned that the guy I liked (now my boyfriend of 3 years but we weren't together yet), wasn't exactly thinking about me while he attended a wedding out of town. It was pretty crushing at the time. I thought things had been going well with the guy and I hadn't had such strong feelings for someone in a LONNNGGG time.
Seven years ago, for my 21st, I was on a study abroad program in Australia. Considering the fact that I WAS IN AUSTRALIA (I'm be writing more in the future how Sydney is, and forever will be, My Best Thing) and was with the greatest group of people for ever all time infinity times infinity, this should've been hands down the best birthday ever. And in all honesty it mainly was. But sadly my great-uncle had passed away a couple weeks prior and it was the second time in the span of just a few years that I lost a close relative and was unable to make it back to Cleveland to mourn with my family.
Ten years ago for my 18th, I was 2-3 weeks into my freshman year of college. This particular birthday will probably forever stand out as the very worst. Five days prior my "only" grandfather passed away (the other one had died long before I was born). The funeral was on Tuesday, September 11th 2001. I was originally going to fly home from Boston that morning, but at the last minute we changed my flight to later in the week. I would still be there for part of the mourning period, but I wouldn't miss so many classes. In the end, of course, it's a damn good thing I didn't fly out of Logan that morning, but it was shut down for days, if not weeks, and I didn't make it home until Thanksgiving. That morning my roommate and I had the TV on as we usually did before going to class, and watched live from our 18th floor dorm room as the second plane hit the second tower. The next couple of days were a chaotic blur and needless to say, my birthday was not a priority.
So how will today stack up against the birthdays of years past?
To be fair, I did celebrate early with friends this past weekend. As mentioned I was introduced to an awesome new beer, got to see some wonderful friends - some of whom I hadn't seen in a long time - and was given these GORGEOUS flowers:
Today my boss, who is on vacation in Napa, sent me a box of truly exquisite dark chocolates. They're so beautiful I might actually have a hard time eating them (shocking, I know). My favorite Norwegian coworker decorated my cube and made me wear the Birthday Princess Tiara. I've gotten a couple emails, a couple texts, a handful of cards from coworkers and friends, and a few really nice gifts from my close family. An old friend, who has recently come back into my life, went with me to one of my fave spots for lunch. My parents had Boyfriend buy me a sheet cake and present it to me at work with [trick - blast those silly things!] candles and singing coworkers. And I've gotten a BOATLOAD of Facebook well wishes. A few of the most important people in my life have been consumed with the birth (literally, just yesterday) of their new nephew, and others with the completion of the film we made (more on that another time). So as much as I'd like to celebrate with them tonight, it's not looking like that will happen. But all in all not a bad birthday, right?
So THANK YOU to everyone who took part in any of the above activities. As narcissistic as it may be, it really does feel nice to gets lots and lots of love all at once. And maybe next year I'll let myself get just a little bit more excited ;-)
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