The Day When Bento Was Born (ie. Yesterday)

Some days, I don't see why my birthday should be so special. If anything, it should be more special to my parent's than me -- it was weird to realize that when my brother had his birthday in May, my mum and dad had been parents for exactly 25 years. whoa.

Some days, I just don't see the point in celebrating an event which I can't even remember. It seems odd and foreign and not particularly significant, except, as you get older, when birthdays become a scary marker of how old you are and how little you've done with your life.

This sort of thinking leads me to often not plan anything for my birthday. "I'll just have a quiet, relaxing day" I think, "I won't stress myself and my family and friends out by planning anything."

But everybody, including me, sometimes wants the whole world to stop and have a parade just for them. Sometimes I really am selfish enough to want people to do special things for me, to go to lots of trouble to make me happy. Sadly, that desire often comes on my actual birthday, after I've gone to all the trouble to not plan anything. Then I'm kind of sad for having such a normal birthday but feel stupid for feeling like that because, after all, that's what I wanted. Or thought I wanted.

Which is why Biku is so good for me. "You can't just have a normal day!" she'll yell. "We have to do something exciting, something fun." And so she forces me to actually make decisions and have what ends up being great birthdays. This year it was the zoo -- a low-key, but enjoyable day of animals (Red Pandas are so cute that it's actually physically painful) and food and skies that alternately looked like sunshine, lollipops and rainbows... </singing> and the End of Days. Now my brother and my mum are puttering around in the kitchen, making delicious seafood kebabs for a family get-together for my birthday tonight.

Of course, I know the "it's your Birthday party!" reason is just an excuse to get the extended family (including my cousins from Toronto) together while Geoff and Meghan are here from Halifax, but it's nice all the same to know we'll have cake and there'll be presents for me.

So I guess, despite the fact that it really doesn't have to be a significant day, I'm glad I've got people around me who like to do nice things for me once a year. Happy Birthday me!