Celebrating Your Birthday
Discussion
Glassman said:
just another day. Meh. Am I damaged?
Not at all. The secret of these "occasions" is to celebrate them any time you like.You'll be in good company because Queen Elizabeth 2 was born on 21 April but celebrated her "official" birthday on the second Saturday of June. I think King Chucky has followed suit.
Agreed. I don't put everyone else through the trauma of me marking another year of uninterrupted respiration. I don't need cards and presents so I tell people to forget it.
A former colleague was off the scale opposite though when it was her 50th. Party after party, trip after trip. She milked it for a whole year. Her birthday went on forever. Great, have a good time, maybe some celebrations on the day....but making a year out of it was way in excess IMHO.
A former colleague was off the scale opposite though when it was her 50th. Party after party, trip after trip. She milked it for a whole year. Her birthday went on forever. Great, have a good time, maybe some celebrations on the day....but making a year out of it was way in excess IMHO.
I'm 50 in September. Can't really be arsed. I'd like to go to Cornwall as it's my favourite place in the world but, if I so much as beathe the word Cornwall, my other half starts banging on about how it's eight hours or more in the car and reels off a list of all the foreign places you can get to quicker. I just feel like doing what I want would put people out and then I wouldn't enjoy it. I'd also like to treat myself to an F82 BMW M4 but the questionable state of the aforementioned relationship means I should probably save the money in case I need it for a house.
All birthdays, including my own, are just marketing induced nonsense to spend more money. I'm not falling for it. (Except immediate family as I'd get frowned upon for not indulging and I can't be arsed with the hassle of any backlash).
I have the same rule for Xmas, valentine's day, father's day....but not mothers day.
I have the same rule for Xmas, valentine's day, father's day....but not mothers day.
Three birthday thoughts:
1) I’ve always thought it was nonsense that people focus on the age. You’re not celebrating you’ve been around for 50 years or whatever, you’re celebrating the fact you were born in the first place. Hence “birthday”. Apart from anything else, spending one day a year reflecting on the bizarrely unlikely miracle that you should exist at all (see below) is far more uplifting than moaning about how old you are.
2) If you go back 1000 years, the simple maths suggests that you would have over a billion ancestors (over a trillion if you make the generations a bit shorter) . Obviously there weren’t that many people about back then, so you have to take into account some overlapping going on within your family tree, it works out you are descended from about a million people back then.
3) I read that Paris Hilton said: “You should live every day like it is your birthday”. Personally I’d just like to live one birthday like Paris Hilton’s everyday…
1) I’ve always thought it was nonsense that people focus on the age. You’re not celebrating you’ve been around for 50 years or whatever, you’re celebrating the fact you were born in the first place. Hence “birthday”. Apart from anything else, spending one day a year reflecting on the bizarrely unlikely miracle that you should exist at all (see below) is far more uplifting than moaning about how old you are.
2) If you go back 1000 years, the simple maths suggests that you would have over a billion ancestors (over a trillion if you make the generations a bit shorter) . Obviously there weren’t that many people about back then, so you have to take into account some overlapping going on within your family tree, it works out you are descended from about a million people back then.
3) I read that Paris Hilton said: “You should live every day like it is your birthday”. Personally I’d just like to live one birthday like Paris Hilton’s everyday…
For one day a year I find it’s nice to give yourself a treat of what you fancy doing, ideally something memorable. Different strokes for different folks, what pleases some is hell for others so don’t judge, be glad they’re doing what they want to do. For me it’s often something active I fancy doing to get away from screens for the day, especially if it falls in a work day.
We get our birthday off work, this year was lovely as the wife was at work ("oh, will you be ok by yourself on your birthday?"), I lay in for a bit, pottered about, took the dogs for a nice long walk and as I was out I took a call from my sister, she was at a loose end in my area as had to hang about whilst my niece was doing something "did I want to meet up for a coffee, mum is with me too?" Which was lovely.
It's my 50th in January, I'm not having a party (shudder, I hate them), the wife has been making murmurings about taking me away to a European GP next year which is fine by me.
It was the wife's 50th in January, she wanted a party but the cost was prohibitive, so we went away for a weekend to the coast in an Air BnB, us, our daughters their partners, grandkids and the MiL, twas lovely too. However she has many friends and friendship groups, you know how woman can be with birthdays etc, she was still doing things for her 50th in June!
It's my 50th in January, I'm not having a party (shudder, I hate them), the wife has been making murmurings about taking me away to a European GP next year which is fine by me.
It was the wife's 50th in January, she wanted a party but the cost was prohibitive, so we went away for a weekend to the coast in an Air BnB, us, our daughters their partners, grandkids and the MiL, twas lovely too. However she has many friends and friendship groups, you know how woman can be with birthdays etc, she was still doing things for her 50th in June!
As some above have mentioned, we use the occasion to have a small get together with family and friends. Just the local family and friends from our village, so perhaps 6 adults and a few kids, and lovely Sunday lunch. There will probably be an attempt at singing happy birthday, but really it is all about an excuse to catch up and have a nice meal and get together.
I can understand the feeling that too much fuss is a bit self important but at the same time there’s no harm in using your birthday as an excuse to do what you want for the day.
A meal with family, a big party, just a day off work (my annual tradition), whatever you want to do; there’s 364 other days where you have to do what everyone else wants.
A meal with family, a big party, just a day off work (my annual tradition), whatever you want to do; there’s 364 other days where you have to do what everyone else wants.
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