Birthdays

Wednesday July 22, 2020 — Brooklyn, New York

My birthday caught me by surprise a few days ago — I don’t typically celebrate birthdays, out of some mix of disrespect for authority and wariness of arbitrary deadlines.

Since I don’t usually tell people when it’s my birthday,And I’m not on Facebook, so people don’t get reminded that way. only family and people who have specifically asked me when it’s my birthday send me happy birthday messages. Overall, I’m happy with this, since getting inundated with messages that I feel obligated to reply to isn’t my idea of a fun birthday, but it’s also a little sad to miss out on — I’ve gotten some lovely messages from the people who do care enough to ask when my birthday is, and knowing that someone is thinking about you is nice, even if the message is short and simple.

I’ve come up with a solution for this, but it requires your assistance: if you know me well enough that you would want to wish me happy birthday, rather than doing it on the same day as everyone else, let’s spread it throughout the year. Pick a random date and put it in your calendar as “Wesley’s Birthday.” When it pops up, feel free to send me a friendly happy birthday message!

This’ll spread out the nice messages throughout the year, and make it easier for me to respond to each one. And if it feels strange to you, hey, just think of it as your birthday present to me :)

☙