Just Another Birthday Story..

Sep 11
NabanitaDhar

If you had read my post last year on S’s birthday, then you already know how particular I am about celebrating, well, birthdays. For me they are very special occasions, not to be trivialized at all. They are about gifts, cakes, grand dinners and more importantly about celebrating life. After all it’s a day on which you were given an opportunity to step into this world, live a life and maybe even make a difference or two.
What happened last year? Let’s recap!


Back to the present day.

After all that transpired last year, I had a lot to plan, a lot to do. I couldn’t let S have a boring birthday after my outburst the last time around, could I?

But as luck would have it, I fell ill just a week before the special day. Such was my bad fortune that I was hospitalized as well. So, by the time I was discharged, all that my body wanted was rest. There was no stamina left either to plan or celebrate. You have no idea how hard it is for me to even admit that. Yes, somehow the birthday buff in me wanted to be left in peace. It was as if someone had punctured the air out of my birthday balloon. As if the sun had finally risen from the west!
The universe had conspired to give S the kind of mellowed down birthday celebration he always wanted.
So, what did I eventually do?

Well, I got a cake which he cut over an hour before midnight, even before his birthday actually began. He wanted me to rest even if that meant cutting his cake early. That’s S for you, always putting me before himself. And even though every cell in my body wanted to protest, somehow I accepted his suggestion. Don’t judge me, at least there was a cake this time around!
His gift was something simple too, not what I would have picked ideally. But again I resigned to his wishes there. The lethargy and weakness in my body seemed to have colluded with S so that the day passed in as low-key a manner as he desired.
Next instead of that grand dinner we opted for lunch outside. S knew though that I was dying inside for not being able to throw him that huge, memorable birthday party I had initially planned. So, to keep my heart he asked me to choose the restaurant. Isn’t he sweet? That’s how we ended up at ‘The Fatty Bao’ for lunch.

A quiet lunch followed by a restful evening at a friend’s place, that was how we celebrated S’s birthday this year. No, not how I would have liked but again it wasn’t so bad either.

Tell me how you celebrate birthdays?

Do you feel the pressure when the birthday of your loved one is around the corner?

What do you do?

15 thoughts on “Just Another Birthday Story..”

  1. 'Boring like Doordarshan' – that's an apt analogy :-). Oh I love birthdays too and go all out to celebrate the kids' and The Husband's. I somehow never enjoy mine maybe because I expect too much. This year's resolve is to take it easy and BE HAPPY no matter what.

  2. Ah. Gone are the days for me of celebrating birthdays. My family all live in another country and are not disposed to even send a message most years. My husband and I can't afford to do anything special, and so we just forget about the whole darn thing. So sad when you grow old.

  3. Birthdays are meant to be celebrated! So either it's a quiet family dinner or party with friends for us. And there have been some birthdays, when friends have thrown parties for us.

  4. Oh, that was fun to read! As I love celebrating – either its for my kids, or myself:-) Love waking my kids up in the morning with breakfast and presents:-)

  5. Your last year's conversation gave me a deja vu…I think my hubs might have said just that! 😉 I love birthdays, more than mine my loved ones! 🙂

  13. S sounds like my husband… I have a hard time making his birthdays special because he likes everything simple. Guess what I did for his bday this month … made paneer pakode and tea coz that's all he wanted. I bought a cake too just to make it more special.

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