Birthdays

When it comes to birthdays, I'm pretty ambivalent.  I absolutely enjoy celebrating a friend's or a dear loved one's birthdays.  I get positively geeked about getting them presents -- and I'm not referring to the indolent giftgiver's stand-by, the gift card --and surprising them with something that they really want and like.  I will scour websites and stores for the perfect gift.  Sure, I miss sometimes but I always try my darnedest to find the thing that they want, not what I think they'll like.

For me, though, I'm not comfortable with celebrating my birthday.  I'm not ashamed of my age.  I wasn't born on Hitler's birthday.  I've just gotten used to not celebrating it through a confluence of yearly events that always leaves my birthday in the dust.

Then too, aside from Karen, most people get me things that make me wonder.  I remember one year my sister -- admittedly a little young but not so young to use it as an excuse -- got me a Groucho Marx comedy album.  To be clear, I wasn't even born yet when he hosted You Bet Your Life.  I've never had any aspirations to be a stand-up comic.  I can't tell a joke to save my life.  This gift shall remain an impenetrable mystery to me.  I'd rather that people saved their money than wasted it on things I will neither enjoy or use.

Karen tells me that I need to learn to be graceful about such things, and she's right, of course.  But I see no reason someone should buy me something out of sheer obligation and without any possible enjoyment in it for them.  Karen's the lone exception to this:  That girl knows how to give gifts...even if some of them are more for her benefit than for mine.

I prefer the way Spaniards handle it.  When it's your birthday, you don't get gifts but instead you take your friends out.  That convention suits me better.

I've also argued that I did nothing to receive accolades for being propelled down the birth canal.  Mom did all the hard work.  If nothing else, she should be the recipient on my birthday for all her hard work.  If we're going to celebrate graduates for completing their education, mothers should receive presents on their children's birthdays.

(c) 2012 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles