sharing | Birthdays are Best

Regular readers of this blog will already know how much I love reporting on people using their birthdays to be generous and share love. #bdaygenerosity is a great thing to see whether it is someone hosting a birthday donation drive for a local food bank or animal shelter or an organization making sure that underprivileged or hospitalized children get to celebrate their special day.

So, allow me to share another thoughtful act done by a father and daughter in England. A 32-year-old Dad and his 7-year-old daughter together decided to mark their birthdays by performing 39 random acts of kindness including:

• Hiding treats for the Dad’s co-workers and emailing them on the Dad’s birthday to look in his desk to claim their rewards for giving him the day off

• Writing thank-you letters to teachers

• Picking up trash at a park

• Registering for organ donation

• Giving art supplies to a children’s hospital and books to a children’s library

• Dropping chocolates off at local police and fire stations

• Donating to a homeless shelter, a mental-health program, and a nonprofit helping wild birds

My personal favorites were their leaving pennies by a fountain for people to make wishes and leaving coins by kids’ rides to enable other children to take a surprise spin.

Today.com reports the duo is already planning on doing 41 acts of kindness next year. Maybe someone reading this blog will be prompted to do the same?

When pregnant with my son, I was told his predicted due date was February 10. Then, people told me that first children were typically late. I worried (because what pregnant woman doesn’t need more to worry about?) he’d be born on Valentine’s Day. How awful for a boy to have to share his birthday with Valentine’s Day. He’d never be able to go out for a birthday dinner without joining the hordes of romancing couples eating prix fixe dinners. He’d be barraged by pink hearts. He’d be dating someone on his birthday and have to worry about his date’s gift instead of simply anticipating the loot he was getting for his birthday.

I told my son about this fear recently. He said it was good he wasn’t born on Valentine’s Day because it is a holiday “for girls.” Six can be so smart, right?

My husband is a Dec. 30 birthday. That’s another birthday that sucks in my mind. He’s always had to share his special day with Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It’s challenging to host a party for his birthday as every one is already getting primed for the 31st and can’t afford babysitters or travel two days in a row. So, it needs to be a combo event. How does one not get upstaged by J Lo in a unitard on national television? Of course, my husband would tell himself she was dancing for him alone.

What I wonder, though, is: Are there advantages to having a birthday on or near a holiday? What about sharing your birthday with another family member? What’s that like? Am I really just selfish or does sharing your birthday suck as much as I think it might? Please fill me in below!