Day 8: Birthdays

I am not feeling inspired to blog this evening, but for my captive audience I will not disappoint! Ha ha. I do think I've let Twitter become my new little social media connection which has helped me cope without my lack of Facebooking. So sad, but I'm being honest.


Saturday was a good friend's birthday. Now normally I would have depended on Facebook to alert me of such occasions and I admittedly have not memorized everyones special day, but without my alert system I almost forgot to say anything. How sad is that? I will tell you that in preparation for this fast I wrote down all the Birthdays that would happen within the 40 day time span so I didn't miss anyone. Even after having done that I still almost forgot to say something to her! However, in my defense I did send a birthday card. 
I  wonder what happens to those people who don't post their birthday publicly on the site or don't have a Facebook wall at all for people to write on? They must be so sad or they know who truly cares to share in their day. I personally love birthday cards or cards of any sort and I have noticed how they've diminished over time. Maybe I have less friends, or maybe it's simply easier for people to write on your wall, shoot you a text, or an email. I'm not positive which option is true. The cost of cards has gone up, so it could be that. I hope we haven't lost the art of a handwritten notes in all this electronic scuffle of our generation. I think some people love having a mass amount of messages on their wall one day a year, I personally am appreciative, but the notification part of it is a little crazy, but it's once a year so I can overlook it. Birthdays mean a lot to mean for reasons that many don't know, but to others it's just another day and I get that. I prefer to take the approach that I want to treat others the way that I would like to be treated, which means I better stock up at Hallmark on some great greetings! This exercise has taught me how much I depended on Facebook to keep track of something that I should probably be keeping track of on my own calendar. It has also challenged me to be proactive and send a card rather than just a small electronic note. 


"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you! I'm writing on your wall... with your other 'friends' too!"