do it like it's your b-day

let's make "me season" a 365 thing

“Do it like it’s your b-day”

- Joseline Hernandez, A Puerto Rican Poet

My birthday was this past weekend, and it was one of my best yet. It wasn’t a milestone, and I didn’t do anything particularly grandiose, but the weather was beautiful, and the energy I felt was a welcome shift from the usual humdrum that is life in an imploding society during a global pandemic. Birthdays were always a big deal to me. When I was a kid, on October 8th, I would tell everyone, “today is my half-birthday”! Maybe it was the excitement of playing with my cousins, eating cake, and opening presents, but part of me thinks little LaChelle loved birthdays because it was the one time of year when I truly felt special. All of the love languages coalesce on birthdays. You get words of affirmation, gifts, quality time, acts of service (because no one expects you to do things yourself on your birthday), and if you’re super lucky, you get physical touch as well. On my birthday, I am the most optimal version of myself. I’m energized, magnetic, open, optimistic, and fully accepting of myself.