My birthday has come and gone again, and, aside from direct relatives, nobody noticed it. It doesn’t help that I’ve been moving around about every two years, so I don’t have a usual group of friends that keeps in touch. However, I DO have several friends now, and it just completely passed them by, even though I made sure I mentioned in June when I was. Then when they found out it’s passed, they say “Oh, sorry. I didn’t know it was your birthday!”
So what am I supposed to do? A week before my birthday, should I go around and tell people that my birthday is coming up and that I really like brownies? Or am I supposed to put up posters, or have my husband and children knock on doors to let people know? Is it in poor taste to throw a party for myself, now that I’m over 12 years old? Should that have been my husband’s job?
The thing that really puzzles me is that I got no special spam on those days. It seems that every e-mail account I signed up for, and every message board I became a member of asked me for my birthdate. Yet nobody is sending me notices like
“Lose 10 pounds for your birthday.”
“Increase your lover’s penis size for your special day.”
“You’re turning 29. Don’t you think it’s time to buy life insurance?” and “Have a happy debt-free birthday.”
Why did they ask me for my birthday if they’re not going to acknowledge it?