Then I checked Facebook. I wonder who has already wished me a happy birthday I thought to myself. No one had left me a comment. Well, I'll give them some time, I thought. It's pretty early. So I tried to keep myself off of Facebook for a few hours and checked around noon. I expected at least 10 birthday wishes from my Facebook family. Still nothing. I wondered if everyone was busy that day. Maybe people are at work. Maybe everyone will wish me a happy birthday after they get home or take their afternoon social media break. I checked again that evening around dinner time. Two happy birthday wishes. Two. I was thankful for those two. At least those people took a sec to wish me a happy day.
I thought it was weird and wondered if Facebook knew my birthday. I checked and it was correct. March 9, 1981. I'm not going to lie. I was disappointed. I had just had Angus's baby shower the day before. Everyone I loved had been there. Everyone had celebrated me and made me feel super loved, especially my sister. I received a few birthday texts, an email from my dentist, and little gifts from friends and family and those made me feel a little bit better. But I was still pretty disappointed and confused that Facebook had either forgot to remind people or people just didn't have time or feel led to leave me a birthday comment.
The next year, my birthday grew near and I secretly grew anxious and half dreaded the day because I didn't want to be disappointed again. I knew I had friends and family who loved me. I felt the love from those people all year long. So the morning of March 9 came. I didn't want to check Facebook because I was still a little bitter from the year before. So around noon, I thought, maybe it was just a weird fluke, a crazy Facebook algorithm that had somehow prevented notifications from going out about Amie's birthday a year ago. I checked. One birthday message from a family member. One. What in the world was happening? All of my friends had received tons of birthday messages. Again, I was let down.
The NEXT two years came and went. Same thing. A few messages about my birthday were posted on my page. I just figured maybe people didn't know if it was my birthday or Dan's birthday because we shared a Facebook account. His idea not mine by the way.
Every time I wished someone a happy birthday on Facebook, I wondered why they were receiving 50 birthday comments and I didn't. I wondered if I didn't have as many friends as I'd thought. It totally messed with my self esteem. Lucky for me, I have more than most.
This was not a great tragedy. I get it. It was humbling for sure though. And as a believer, I should find great joy in the fact that Christ loved me so much that he died on the cross for my sins. But was it too much to ask that my Facebook friends loved me enough to post a few comments on my birthday?
Fast forward to two weeks ago. I was listening to a podcast and one of the hosts was talking about the fact that she recently took her birthday off of Facebook. She was receiving so many birthday messages that she felt the need to respond to all of them and it was overwhelming. Poor thing, I thought. SO many messages. What a nuisance. But it got me thinking... I should remove my birthday from Facebook too. That way, I wouldn't be disappointed or confused about no one sending me birthday wishes. I would just receive texts and calls from the people who had my birthday written down or memorized and went out of their way to wish me a happy birthday. Yes, that's what I would do.
So, I went to my settings and figured out how to edit my birthday. And then I saw it. Somehow, probably 4 years ago, my birthday settings had been changed. The only person who was able to see my birthday was my sister-in-law. It's super random and I have no idea how it happened but no one else had been able to see it! No one else received notifications.
You have no idea the happiness and relief I felt seeing that. I changed it so all my friends could see my birthday, not just one friend. And I waited. I wondered what this year would bring. Anything is better than two or three Facebook birthday wishes. I had to see what happened.
So finally March 9 came again. In total I received 48 birthday wishes via Facebook this year, including a gentleman who wished both Dan and I a happy birthday. 😊 I was ecstatic to receive each one and happily replied 48 times. See? Great ending right? I'm 38 now. This May, I'll be celebrating my 20 year high school reunion, which I think is just bonkers.
There was another party going on the same day as my birthday that we attended. The girls said it was my best birthday ever. I've never had face painting or bouncy houses at my birthday celebrations so I'd have to agree.
Angus didn't acknowledge my birthday but he loves me so much every day of the year that he totally makes up for it.
Dan got me a birthday cake at a very fancy gourmet spot in Pasadena that a friend of his recommended. It was quite delicious. Lemon cake with delicious frosting. But when Winter saw it, she was not impressed AT ALL. In fact, she looked at Dan like he had betrayed her and wept in the other room and refused to sing happy birthday to me because the cake situation was just too tragic. She came around hours later and said it actually tasted good despite it's impostor cake facade.
This is the best birthday gift ever. And my friend Annie is the only one who could ever give it to me.
Annie and I used to watch "Nadia" the movie when we were around 10. I was obsessed with gymnastics so it was pretty much the best movie ever. Nadia Comaneci was the greatest gymnast of all time but her BFF Teodora was cuter. And even though Nadia was the better gymnast, I always made Annie be Nadia since she had dark hair and I played Teodora since I had blondish hair. Annie was the sweetest little person ever so of course she let me be Teodora, the cuter one. Anyway, that's why this little journal is such a perfect gift. Annie is the most thoughtful gift giver.
Mya finished her science project! And presented it in front of class! I think it's way to young for 9 year old kids to do oral presentations but that's just me. I guess they all survived. I'm so relieved it's done. It was quite stressful for the both of us. She said she was the only one who painted her background to look like a galaxy. I think it came out pretty great.
Addie made binoculars. Kind of.
I just love Angus's mouth in this pic.
Addie told Angus to hide in the shelves with her.
Trader Joe's recommendation of the week:
My favorite food is cheese. Dan and I often eat cheese plates for lunch. We include nuts, olives, crackers and a few different kinds of cheeses. I recently tried the cheeses below.
This one I'm not crazy about. It's too sweet and its a bit too crumbly.
This one is very good. I love black pepper and this one has a great flavor and texture with a hint of black pepper. Two thumbs up.
And this cheese is SO tasty. Just trust me on this one. If you like cheddar you'll love it.
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