The Birthday Blog

I've always made a huge deal out of birthdays. Not my birthday usually, but others. Ridiculous, sure. All the other grown-ups in my life seem to be satisfied with quiet dinners out. I am totally ok with that if that is what you want to do. But like, let me plan it. Give me the invite list and let me put on a show for you. If I find out someone around me isn't planning to do something special or at least get shitfaced for their birthday, I'll at least sneak them a cupcake with a candle when they're not looking. Everyone keeps telling me I'll stop caring about birthdays as I get older, but it just ain't happening. I even make a big deal out of the birthdays of people I only casually like.

But if you think about it, most holidays have at least one or two things about them that are crappy. Christmas leaves out everyone who isn’t Christian or doesn’t celebrate it; Rosh Hashanah leaves out non-Jews; Thanksgiving is kind of all about imperialism and brings up uncomfortable thoughts about smallpox; Valentine’s Day is, well, Valentine’s Day. You get the picture. But birthdays. Birthdays are pure. They’re the ultimate celebration, and everyone gets one. Birthdays are the special unique snowflakes of the holiday world –- each one is different.

Birthdays are the only chance a lot of people get to have a day that is solely all about them. And I, for one, really enjoy taking the time to make the people around me feel really, really special –- even for just one day. Thus far, I haven’t found any occasion more well suited to spoiling awesome people than a good old-fashioned birthday bash.

We spend most of our lives feeling extraordinarily ordinary. Except on our birthdays. And everyone deserves to feel awesome, if only for one day a year.