Tuesday, October 15, 2024

My Random Thoughts about my birthday.

 So, it’s my birthday, and of course I have some random thoughts about it.

Since my primary way of promoting this blog is through my Facebook account you who have checked out my Facebook page probably have seen a few of my Facebook friends posting birthday greetings to me.   This is my way of trying to thank each and every one of you for your birthday well wishes.  You could say it’s an advantage (or disadvantage depending on your perspective) that Facebook reminds me when one of you, my Facebook friends have a birthday as well so I could pop a quick gif or comment on your Facebook page and vice versa.  Facebook has become the de facto way we in the 21st century send birthday greetings.  This is probably because greeting cards have become almost as expensive as presents with the postage to mail out said birthday greetings increasing about 10X since the date of my birth 50-some years ago.[i]

While everyone obviously has a date of birth, the history of the celebration of that day is only somewhat of a modern phenomenon.   The custom of celebrating birthdays began with the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt who didn’t celebrate the day they were born but chose to celebrate the day they were coronated where they were “Born as a god”[ii] with those pharaohs no doubt demanding some kind of sacrificial offering from their people to honor their godhood.    Some also say the origins of the birthday cake came from the ancient Greek worship of the goddess Artemis and moon shape cakes with candles on top.  Romans would celebrate the birthdays of their prominent citizens, but most commoners probably couldn’t remember when they were born and ergo it was just another day for them on the Julian calendar.  For the longest time there was no universal system of tracking births until the early 20th century when progressive reformers were trying to keep track of the immigrants that were flooding the US at the time.  This is something that was necessary since they needed to know who among their offspring would count as a native-born person who could aspire to become President of the United States verses a baby that came in their mom’s arms from some European nation and may just have to settle for Speaker of the House or Secretary of State. [iii]    Even with the concept of a birth certificate, most babies were born at home and would be lucky to live past their 2nd birthday up until fairly recently when birthing moved into hospital wards instead of midwives’ parlors.    For the longest time Christians eschewed the celebrations of birthdays since it was considered a pagan tradition, and many Christians may still have not forgiven Herod Antipas for the beheading of John the Baptist at his birthday bacchanal [iv] that was akin to a night in Vegas.    

This of course doesn’t mean that birthdays, or at least certain birth milestones, weren’t acknowledged in times past. Jewish people have the tradition of the bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah when a boy or girl becomes an adult at age 13.   Hispanic cultures have the tradition of the quinceañeras[v] where rich fathers essentially bragged their daughters were now old enough to be married.  Still, attitudes began to change beginning with the industrial revolution in Germany when things like sugary cakes and cheap party streamers could be mass produced for kids’ parties.    And once modern kids had fond memories of birthday cakes and birthday parties at Chuck-e-Cheese with birthday gifts, we as adults wanted to keep the party going.   

In addition to Party City’s mass-produced party supplies being widely available for birthday parties there are plenty of corporations who want to give you gifts for your birthday if you’re willing to give them your email or sign up for their app so they can bombard you with ads/coupons on your 364 un-birthdays.     I remember in the 00’s my then boyfriend, now husband made a game of how much free stuff he could get on his birthday.   [vi]     We would start the day off at Denny’s with his free meal that once upon a time was any meal Denny’s served as long as you could prove today was your actual birthday with a government issue photo ID. Now it’s reduced to just a free classic Grand Slam breakfast, and you need to have a coupon issued to you via Email.  There was also a free grommet burger from Red Robin for lunch, a free donut from Dunkin Donuts with a free beverage from Caribou Coffee to wash it down with, followed by dinner at Flat Top Grill at Yorktown mall with a BOGO free deal for their dinner stir fries. Finally, my husband could get free ice cream scoop either from Baskin Robins, Cold Stone Creamery or Culvers if he had room for dessert after a day of gorging himself on the free food.   Me, I complained that his quest for all of his free birthday stuff was costing me a small fortune as his date for his birthday.    Nowadays most restaurants like Chilis, Longhorn or Olive Garden are willing to give you a free dessert if you spend $13-$40 on a regular price entrée 1st.     Bath and Body works are willing to give you one “free” item if you buy something and Lane Bryant gave me a coupon for $20 off a purchase of $20.01 which really becomes more like a 5%-75% off coupon since it’s doubtful Lane Bryant’s has something that is exactly $20 and I’m sure that’s $20 before sales tax.  [vii]

I also feel October 8th is the best day in the entire calendar for one’s birthday to fall on but I’m obviously very biased.   I should try to ask my fellow October 8th.   [viii]   birthday-ers like Matt Damon if I am right or wrong.   For the Midwest, the weather isn’t super-hot, so we do not have to worry about 100◦ F heatwaves, nor is it super-cold so I’m freezing my butt off the instant I’m walking out the door on a -10◦F blustery morning.   Additionally, the trees reflect the Goldilocks temperature range with their beautiful shades of yellow, orange and even some nice crimson that reach their peak around this time of year.  Furthermore, my birthday often falls on or near Columbus/Indigenous Persons’ Day meaning I got a 3-day weekend from school growing up.   My birthday often ends up pretty awesome even if I have to work and deal with people yelling at me for company mistakes that aren’t my fault.  Heck my co-workers often decorated my desk on that day to show how they appreciate me.       

Still, for me the significance of my birthday isn’t the greetings I get or my friends and family or the presents my mom and my husband give me.  What makes my birthday significant is that it’s always a time to pause, take stock of what I’ve lived through and the things in my life I’m hoping to change.   I’m grateful my company has a perk of paid birthday off so I could have some fun, like enjoying the original Grand Slam breakfast for free at Denny’s before taking a nap.  However, I know I also had to do the normal chores of my day off like make my husband’s lunch, wash up dinner dishes from the night before and wash clothes which left me exhausted afterwards even though it was only about two loads.   Not to mention part of the reason why I was laying down was because my stomach couldn’t tolerate the rich buttermilk pancakes and sausage links like they did in my youth.

So, I am now older, but the wiser part may be questionable at times.   You’d think I’d learn that eating out on fried food for several days would mean an automatic upset stomach and downing almost half a bottle of Tums to cool said stomach acid down isn’t the wisest decisions.  Still, I love that greasy fried fast food perhaps way too much and I’m still eating it though I know it’s not good for me except for bacon.  As I’ve often told my friends who offer me the delicious fried pork treat to consume, I explain I would love to eat their bacon, except bacon stopped loving me about 14 years or so ago after I had my gall bladder removed and feels like it will wreak revenge on my intestines for the hundreds of pigs’ lives, I’ve consumed to keep mine going.   I’m hoping some major health crisis isn’t what it will take for me to go vegetarian/vegan or at least non-McDonalds/Oreo cookies fatty foods connoisseur which my body may be telling me I might be heading for. 

I remember when my husband and I were dating, and we were calling each other nightly, we would each ask how our respective days went.   I often began with “Well I woke up”, which my husband has chided me is an obvious statement since I was talking with him.   I I hadn’t woken up I would be in a hospital bed in a coma somewhere with Steve praying that I’d wake up soon as a best-case scenario.   Each day I get to wake up is a gift from God that I should truly treasure.     I get a chance to make better decisions or at least ask God to forgive me for the wrong ones I continue to make.  

So, another year, another chance for me to do my best to truly live right so hopefully I can reach another birthday, and then another, and then another.

 

 


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