The Day Few Ever Notice

If you were a friend of mine on Facebook, did you notice last week?

Last week, I celebrated my birthday. Not that it is any big deal because I haven’t celebrated it in years (actually never).

My point is that there was a handful (a small group) who decided to wish me a happy birthday. What was strange was that some people who normally are usually part of this group completely ignored me this year.

Why?

Maybe it is because they are just too busy with their own interests or maybe they just simply don’t care about me in the first place. I know there are some people who I was once very close with who have friended me on Facebook and have NEVER sent me one message in the 3+ years I have been a member of the site. Does this mean that these people are not really friends or they just feel obliged to increase their own friend number?

Either way this is just more proof that people have no respect for others. You do remember that post from a couple of weeks ago, don’t you?

Even though my first and only birthday party was when I was 5 years ago and involved some strong hatred between my 2 grandmothers, this image still burns in my mind as a very bad experience. Yes, the fireworks between the 2 would make the Hatfields and McCoys look like a friendly game of checkers. Well, maybe not quite that bad but you probably get the idea.

In my later years, even though I had no parties I did occasionally receive gifts on the special day. Not often but it did happen. For just a moment, I felt like somebody remembered and might have actually cared. At least this is what I thought…

This feeling continued until my final year with Staples. It was the year that I was in the hospital for a week. Over the years from my days at Woolworth to Staples, whenever someone was out sick for a period of time, a get well card was sent to the person. This happened for everybody and everybody always signed it. That was until me. No card at all. Nothing at all whatsoever. Should I really have been surprised? Probably not at all.

When I returned and I casually asked a fellow employee why no card was sent, their response was that “NOBODY CARED!!”.

This response absolutely floored me. Why after the many cards I have signed over the years that anyone would have the audacity to say that statement to me. It was obvious that a reality check was in order.

Yep, I was being ignored even by the people I thought were my friends. For someone like me who thought that they may not even leave the hospital alive this was not a very reassuring statement or a very desirable either.

Over the last couple of years, I have had a few of my high school friends die. It is hard to believe that I have actually outlived them given that they always seemed to be in better health than me. I still wonder everyday why I am survivor and they weren’t. I have now learned to embrace what little health I have left (BLAME STAPLES for that) and realize how important every day really is.

I don’t know what it will take for the friends who feel that I am not important to them to realize that, but when you have been on the edge like I have everything changes and not necessarily for the better either.

I hope maybe next year some of those people will remember those two little words that mean so much: Happy Birthday!

Until then, I have cake to eat. Oh wait, nobody got me a cake! Oh darn it!