Last week I celebrated another year on the planet. As an adult I don’t always have a birthday party like I did as a child. It depends upon my mood, number of years old, serendipity of fun events on my birthday. This year, on 10 September, I held a party to celebrate my birthday and six months blogging at The Engineers’ Daughter.  People brought food and I provided cake. Avalanche Lilly provided live music; my friends Ramune and Drew play in this band.

My actual day of birth falls on 12 September, which this year occurred on a Monday. That day I worked– finishing up a technical paper for an IEEE workshop. When I did an internet search on Google I noticed that the site recognized that it was my birthday. Naturally, I logged on to Facebook to read the birthday greetings. I ended the day though with what has become the one thing I now do every year. With a glass of wine, I sat down with the birthday cards that arrived in the mail or at the party. One by one I slipped the edge of the opener at the envelope’s seal and admiringly looked at the card and read the inscription.

I’m looking forward to this coming “trip around the sun.”  I have no idea if I’ll have a birthday party, dinner out with friends, or attend a musical event.  Opening up my birthday cards on my actual birthday will continue to be the one repeatable event.

Have a Productive Day,

Anne Meixner

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Additional Reading

I found a link that lists birthday traditions around the world.  It was there that I learned that in some cultures everyone celebrates on the same day. Everyone celebrates their birthday on New Year’s Day in Vietnam, a day they refer to as “tet.”