One of my favorite features of social media is the birthday reminder.
Whenever I receive these emails or spy a notice on a newsfeed, I do my best to take a moment and send good cheer. Generally I’m one of many to wish the happy, yet doing so feels good because no matter how difficult life can be, birthdays should be enthusiastically celebrated.
The downside of birthday reminders is… well, death. It always makes my heart ache when I receive one of these alerts for a friend or family member who’s died in the past year. Instead of being reminded of joy, I recall the loss of their passing. And it hurts to know they won’t have another birthday.
Yesterday, I thought about my high school sweetheart all day. Although he died a few years ago, June 3rd has long been a day I noticed because it was his birthday. So even though he’s gone, I can’t help but recall the times we shared and the years we did not. A few hours ago, I received a birthday email for a writer on Livejournal that I followed for more than a decade. He died last year and the loss of his voice has made reading that site just a little less required.
