no. 13 - 4 letters, one abbreviation, HPBD

When i was younger, I'd eagerly await the stroke of midnight when my trusty Nokia 9210 would buzz off with happy birthday text messages that were carefully worded within the 140 characters restrictions that text messages were once confined to. With every character over, you'd bust into your second text message quota and that was as close to a nightmare as it got when your plan only allowed for 100 mins talk time and 100 text messages.

The best part of the stroke of midnight were the text messages from your close friends whose scribbles were all over your textbooks and foolscap folded letters crumpled all at the bottom of your unnecessarily weighted school bag and of course the boys you know were crushing on you and those you had placed your crushes on.

With age, we've all grown a little more tired and the entry of non-dialled-up and seamless wifi and data setups have changed the dynamic of waiting up and waking up to those highly anticipated birthday messages.

This year was not much different, my beloved family members ushered it in with me, there was much cake, many cards, well wishes ringing in and me bursting with exhilaration because I have always had a deep unabashed love for celebrating birthdays - more so when its my own.

I was in fact, terrible at sharing anything birthday related when I was younger. For every toy my mother bought for another kid's birthday celebration, i would demand to have one of the same. So yes, for every toy my friend received, I received one myself on not-my-birthday-but-theirs because hashtag equality.

Naturally, as the universe would have it, I wound up dating and marrying a man who of course, shared my birthday. Like me, he was born on the third of September, the day i would forever remember from a lower secondary school project as the day when nothing of significance happens in history.

by way of background, we were tasked to write an article on a significant historical event on your birthday and after hours of searching (on dialled up internet) I found one - of minimal significance, but it made the news - an oil tank spillage out at sea.

& with that, my dearest husband

thank you for sharing this most insignificant day in history.

For sharing the cake, the birthday songs, the highs and all around birthday craze that I am mad for and about.

While i wait up for and wake up to birthday messages from all the people I love and whose friendship and love I am eternally grateful for - I couldn't be happier to celebrate the clock's ticktock past 2nd September into 3rd September with you in our first debt and drive around the next day in our second debt.