I have this habit of deactivating all my social media accounts whenever my birthday is coming up. I keep Messenger, WhatsApp, and iMessage, but everything else goes quiet.

When the day comes, only a few people greet me outside of my family. I guess those are the ones who truly keep me in mind—the people for whom I’m important enough to remember, or at least write my birthday down somewhere. I really appreciate them.

At the same time, I remind myself that some people are like me and have terrible memory. They rely on journals, reminders, or even past social media posts to remember birthdays—even for people they grew up with. Some don’t bother keeping track at all because that’s what social media is for. So when someone like me suddenly disappears and turns everything off, it naturally leaves only a few who reach out.

I am happy that I got to spend my day with family, I enjoyed it a lot because my parents were present! Love that we get to do it again!

My boss also greeted me, which honestly surprised me since we don’t really have a relationship. He said he would’ve sent me home earlier if not for the long meetings and explained that he only lost track of time because of them. He let me leave at 7:30 p.m., even though the workday usually ends at 5. But knowing they stayed in the office until 10 p.m., I of course, appreciated the gesture.

I turned my socials on and of course, they started sending their greetings! I am glad they still did.

Here’s what two of my office girlfriends gave me for my bday!

It still surprises me that one of my close friends since 2005 didn’t greet me. I didn’t greet her either, even though her birthday was the day before mine. I guess I got tired of always being the one to remember when she keeps missing mine, and she also didn’t reach out even though she knew I am sick. I kept seeing her posts, and she looks happy and thriving in her faith and having fun with her new friends, but she never checked on me. That honestly makes me sad. There are friends you don’t want to lose but I guess, things are inevitable as we get older.

Overall, I am happy. I feel loved and still blessed. I am thankful in all circumstances…

LORD JESUS, thank you for everything.