Someone's Special Day

Today was my friend, V’s, 30th birthday. To some a mere number of years on this earth; to others a ‘landmark’ year; and to others a special day.

What I found interesting about this particular day was how this special day for my friend turned out to be about everyone else but her.

I could be wrong, but it seems we all feel a little special or desire to feel acknowledged on our birthdays. Narcissistic behavior? Maybe. V is no exception. She is not one that generally draws attention to herself, and generally goes along with pretty much anything anyone wants to do. However, anyone that knows her knows her birthday is special to her.

Now for the part that seemed rather intriguing to me. It seemed the people we worked with wanted to honor her birthday with a lunch gathering----great! However, no one bothered to ask V where she’d like to go for her special day. In fact, it was suggested we do lunch another day so that ‘so-and-so’ could join, and would V mind waiting until the following week to celebrate her birthday. What? Why couldn’t those that were able to, celebrate with V on her day, and then the following week meet up with so-and-so? Moreover, even some of V’s family members were suggesting that V make her famous ‘bunt cake’ for her own birthday celebration. What? I thought part of being an honoree for the day was you didn’t have to participate in the preparation, organize the event or even structure your own celebration. I found this rather interesting that everyone else’s agenda seemed to matter more than the one we were suppose to be ‘honoring’ for the day. Now, who exudes the narcissistic traits here?

Is it that we all desire to be in the lime light and can’t stand to set ourselves aside for one day to let someone else prance on the stage? Or, is it that we are too afraid to give another attention fearing it might make the other person feel uncomfortable?