For so many years, I have hated birthdays. I didn’t like being the center of attention, I thought the entire preoccupation with gifts, forced giving, the notion that simply having been born on a calendar day equated to people being obligated to buy things for you. This was made even worse by the fact that unless I was paying very close attention to the other person on a consistent basis, I had no idea what to get the birthday boy or girl. I might get the person what I wanted, but I had lots of special interests that not everyone shared. It’s even worse receiving, because there are all these expectations that I would smile and be grateful and a host of other expressions that I don’t feel like expressing. I felt awkward even having these people me, all looking at me, let alone giving me things, on top of an expectation that I love what they gave.
But it wasn’t always this way.
