you remembered?!

This was originally meant to be a photography blog, but I don't take many pictures right now, so I'm just going to ramble. Deal with it.

When I was little, I was deathly afraid that my family was going to forget my birthday. Not that they gave any indication that this was a possibility, it was just this irrational fear that crept into my head about two months before the date of my birth. To make sure my family didn't forget, I would put up signs around the house to remind them. Example: "Maura's birthday is in 28 days! Please remember!"

I would like to say that I put up these friendly reminders for purely selfless reasons, for instance I didn't want my Mom and Dad to feel crippling shame after they realized they neglected to wish their only daughter a happy birthday. However, judging from some of the signs I remember making, this was not the case. The closer it got to my birthday, the more materialistic the signs became: "Maura's birthday countdown: 17 days. Gift ideas: Pony, Puppy (real)" or "5 more days until Maura's birthday! I want a bike!"

I'm fairly certain this was pretty annoying. One year I attached notices to the doorknobs of every door in our house with hair ties, which made opening the door a bit difficult unless the sign was removed and hopefully read. What can I say, I was persistent and I got my point across.

I obviously don't obsessively remind people about my birthday anymore, in fact, I now do just the opposite and tell as few people as possible because I don't like people making a big deal about me. Somehow, people remember... and a teensy part of me is pleasantly surprised.