As a freshman in college, I constantly find myself experiencing many “firsts,” since college is a new environment filled with new people. Every year for my birthday, which is February 13th, I spent the day at home eating my favorite homecooked meal with my family and devouring cake or pie. Now that I’m in college, things are different. I live nearly two hours away from home, I don’t have a car, and my parents are not able to drive to Athens to visit me more than once every month or two.
Since my birthday fell on a school day this year, I was unable to visit home to celebrate with my family. Not being able to see my family as frequently as when I lived with them is hard enough on me, but since I couldn’t be with them on a day as special as my birthday, I became more upset. When I lived at home, I would wake up and almost immediately see my parents and get wished a happy birthday. But in college, I woke up and had to immediately go to class without receiving birthday wishes unless I ran into a friend. There are so many people on campus that this year I almost felt unimportant. In high school, and especially in even earlier years, the students in my classes knew and cared that it was my birthday. I was lucky if the teacher agreed to let the class sing the birthday song to me. But now in college, no one knows and no one really cares that it’s my birthday. Obviously my friends care, but the students in my classes barely even know who I am since the class size is so large.
One thing kept me sane and feeling special this year—my friends. I knew that even though my family couldn’t be with me, I would still have a few people to celebrate with. Though I woke up on my birthday without verbal recognition, I received many messages from my friends via text, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. This small act of sending me a text message lifted my mood and made me feel special. A few of my closest friends at UGA even gave me birthday gifts, which once again made me feel very grateful to have people in my life that care for me.
Since I was unable to eat my favorite home cooked meal, my desire was to have a Taco Bell picnic with my closest friends. Though this idea sounded weird, my friends agreed to my proposition and we had a great picnic in beautiful weather. After we eat our fast food, we ran around a field and threw a football. My group of friends cleared their schedules just to spend a few hours with me to make me happy.
Celebrating my birthday differently for the first time in college signifies a new chapter in my life. Of course, I wish my real family was there to spend time with me on such a special day, but I spent it with my best friends, who over the course of my freshman year became just like family to me after all. I never imagined that I would meet such amazing people who make me feel special and unique, even when it’s not my birthday.
Cover Photo by Stephanie McCabe on Unsplash