Happy caffeine-filled birthday

Birthdays were my thing.

Some people I've met and interacted with, both in secondary school and the university, would tell me that birthdays weren't such a big deal and shouldn't be hyped as much as it was.

To them, it was just a day's event that marked the slow but increasing passage of time for them which would eventually lead to their inevitable deaths. 

It was a wonder to me how these people could think about birthdays so similarly.

Their opinions didn't matter much to me because I enjoyed all the pomp, attention, gifts, well-wishes, and fun that were associated with birthdays.

Unsurprisingly, when I was a baby right up till the age of five, I always cried and sulked in each of my birthday photos. 

According to my mom, I would squirm, wail, and flail about, trying to express my desire to leave the birthday parties that were usually filled with relatives I didn't know and strangers I didn't care to know more about.