Birth/Berth/Earthdays ...

I turned 24 on Sunday.

Happy birthday to me.

Birthdays always feed into the attention-whore side of my personality. It's always good to feel appreciated, loved, cared for, thought of, and all of that. What better day to feel all of that love than the anniversary of that glorious day or night when your loving mother birthed you into this crazy world? Birthdays, in that sense, are not for the humble; they're celebrations of your existence, your life to that point, and the life you're destined to lead.

And then, invariably, someone close to you forgets about your day - and the world stops.

Well-wishes from everyone else lack luster. Joy turns to questioning, sadness, pensiveness. As the clock ticks closer to midnight, bringing your special day to an end, you sit there and look at your preferred method of communication thinking, "how could he/she/they forget?" Your ego takes a hit. A hit? More like a crushing blow. A sucker-punch. In short, it hurts. All it takes is a small gesture to let someone know you care, and to have someone you care about forget... hurts.

Should it? I mean, people get caught up sometimes. I have the worst memory in the world; I know I don't remember things like birthdays all that well myself. But it's moments like this that can (in some cases) bring humility back to the birthday. The advent of mass communication technologies .. social networking .. have made it easy for a million people to send you birthday wishes without a second thought. What you forget is that there once was a time when people would have to take the time out of their day to find you, contact you, and personally let you know that they were thinking of you on your special day. That being said, when someone doesn't do that for you... it makes you realize just how special the people who do, are. At the same time, it makes you realize that - even on your day - life goes on.

I could be hurt, upset, saddened by the fact that this one particular person got so caught up in their life .. their travails .. their necessaries .. that I got lost in the shuffle; or, I could accept their contrition .. take it for what it's worth .. and be thankful that they even cared to apologize when the miscue was brought to their attention. In years past, I'd hold a grudge .. but I know better. Karma is a bitch, and I've been on her bad side for many a year. I think it only right that I treat her well as I embark on a new revolution ...

So, if you're reading this: apology accepted. And no, I will not willfully forget your birthday. I care too much, no matter how much I try to act like I don't.

I suppose that was my first test of growing up. I hope I passed.