I have always looked forward to my birthday every year ever since I was a little girl. It is the day in the entire year that I love the most, next to Christmas that is (the Lord's birthday) and maybe New Year (1st of January). I would wait in anticipation, for the clock to strike midnight and just beam with joy at the arrival of the date. I am just that elated. I continue with this little craze even as an adult, and I never thought that there would ever be a day that I would ever get tired about celebrating my birthday. I am sure there are many others who are like me, and I just cannot imagine how people could be nonchalant about their birthdays. Well, there are and I have met them. It is probably not gender-related, but most of the ones I have known are guys, who surprised me when I wished them on their birthdays, and they tell me that they have even forgotten that it was their birthday on that day. I wondered how people could forget that one day that they were born, after all, it is OUR day, isn't it?
These guys share almost the same answer, "It is just like any other day. I still go to work/study, and everything is just the same. If I feel like celebrating, I will, otherwise, it doesn't matter".

   It was initially a little surprising, but then it is also not really that surprising. Birthdays are reminders of the day we are born, but they are not everything, I am aware of that. No one is made to think the same, and everyone has their own perspective on everything in life. I do not think they are weird or anything like that, it is probably me who is overreacting to my own birthday (maybe I am the crazy one). Of course I do realise that everyone has a different experience and maybe even a different story when it comes to their birthday, and it is unsurprising to me that there are even some who personally detest their own birthdays for reasons known only to them. There is all nothing wrong with that. 

   Anyway, my personal obsession is not something to be forced upon others and I do not really think it is really a self-obsession in it either. I think it is more of the idea of celebration that I really enjoy, and that birthday just gives me the full privilege to enjoy it to the most. I do not expect others to celebrate it with me, nor give me presents. It is a day that I celebrate with myself, a celebration for myself by myself, even if it is a silent song I sing in my heart to commemorate this day when I came to the world. It is that joy that I feel because it is a day of gratitude, a blessing that I was born to this world. (A teacher of mine back in high school said that we are all champions the minute we were born, for we are that one among millions of contenders who made it - scientifically speaking). Therefore, we are already a miracle from the start and what else could it be but a true blessing? I am just as thankful for my parents, for it was they made it possible for me to be born and this is a day of joy for me as well as for them, for without them, I would not even be here today. It is a day that I celebrate in joy, yet it was also the day that my mum had to undergo labour pains to deliver me to the world. My first cry is made of my mother's countless cries, tears and sweat, accompanied by the pains shooting through every inch of her body. 
(My mum and my grandmother told me that there is no other pain like delivering a baby, and the body does not even feel like they belong anymore for there is not an inch of the body that does not feel the pain).

That is what I do, every birthday, I say a silent prayer for my parents, my Mum and the Lord for my miraculous existence.

It is also the reason why I just cherish my birthday so much, because it is MY day, it is a day I am thankful for even breathing and that there is a ME in this world. It is a day worth celebrating, it is a day that I would be so happy that the definition of happiness and joy in the dictionary would refer to my state for an apt description.

As to what I really do on my birthday (after drowning in that joy in me), I celebrate with my loved ones and just enjoy that day. There is nothing in particular that really screams extravagant or outwardly special, just simple meals and activities with my loved ones. I get my favourite things of course, and while I do enjoy presents, they are not really necessary (I mean it, I don't just say it). It is also lovely to receive birthday wishes, because they mean that there are people who actually remembered my birthday and took it to wish me on the day itself. That in itself, is very, very special to me. In fact, I would be really touched whenever I receive a greeting on the day. Thanks to social media these days, it is even easier for people to remember (there are reminders), but it is ultimately that wish and that will to even convey the greeting that is truly sweet to me.

I have toned down my birthday obsession over the years, it may be age, or something else, but though I may not jump in joy at the strike of midnight, I still look forward to this day every single year and wish that the day would go by slower, though I reprimand myself for that as just as much I enjoy my day, the world still goes on and there are still many others who look forward to their birthdays and I just need to let the day go. 
For the ones who celebrate their birthdays the day after mine, I am sorry if you felt that it took exceptionally long for your birthday to arrive. It might have been my fault for wishing it, and you know what they say that birthday wishes do come true sometimes, so I am sorry for the wait.

I think I will continue with my birthday excitement even when I am an old lady, or as long as it gets. The whole idea, or obsession with birthday (just mine especially) just never gets old.
Now, there's more than another 300+ days to my next one, till then, I wish everyone else a Happy Birthday on yours too.