Birthday memoirs

Last night I was going through a box filled with my childhood stuffs. I fished out all the birthday cards I had received over the years. I stood there thinking.

I tried to remember a few friends who had, in the tussle of life, faded away from our memories and the birthday celebrations that have faded with them.
I thought about the cordial wishes on birthday cards that have been replaced by tailored wishes on Facebook. I realized how the count on wishes from your friend list on Facebook mattered and the last time I received a card for my birthday.

I remembered the times when I woke up in the morning and found presents on my pillow or underneath it. The excitement and suspense to open the presents made me wait for another year to celebrate another birthday.

I missed the birthdays when we took chocolates to school for the whole class. It was like a custom. I don’t remember when it started but my twin-sister and I ensured that we had chocolates for the whole school.  For me, or rather my parents, celebrating a twin birthday was never easy. Everything needed to be in pairs- a pair of gifts, a pair of cake, a pair of everything.

Back then the issue was that it was my birthday and everything had to be special but now I look back and sub-consciously wondered if I should have been there to share the cost.
Normally we don’t realize that parents too have birthdays and that wishing them on their birthdays brings them the greatest joy. I quickly recalled the birthdays of my parents and ensured that I am the first one to wish them on their birthdays from now on.

When you are young, birthdays come with gifts.  As you grow older, birthday treats mean booze, partying and a lot more booze.

As you grow old celebrating birthdays become childish yet you await birthday wishes and presents year after year.  After all it was the day you were born.