A New Bloom

 I have a dear sister-friend whose birthday is just a couple days away. She didn’t get the joy of two holidays like many of us — her birthday and Christmas — because the two were so close and often combined.As I’ve gotten older (say what now?!), my circle has expanded and there are quite a few others (and their children … and grandchildren) who have birthdays late in December and I wonder if they had the same experience as my sister.I have a brother-cousin whose birthday is on the first of January. Yeah, same deal.Mine is a coupla days before Valentine’s Day; I don’t get it as much of it — people usually give me the ‘Aw!’ thing. It’s actually sort of ookey.But that’s another story.Imagine going through your life and having people essentially ignore your birthday in response to the other holiday that is on that day or in close proximity? It’s as if your day is the lesser of the two.Wrong.So, do me a solid, yeah?If you have a friend whose birthday is on or near some other celebrated day, don’t combine your merry-making. If you gotta, give your holiday greeting the day before and celebrate the birthday on the day.We’re only born once ya know.