I will never miss the chance to watch or listen to someone talk about having had a really good birthday. It's the one day a year society allows us to celebrate ourselves without judgment or the need to justify why we deserve to be celebrated by others simply for existing. For many people, birthdays mark the end of one chapter of life and the beginning of the next (similar to how some mark time by the changing of the calendar year). We all deserve to have good birthdays, every year, no matter what.
Welcome -- or welcome back -- to Vlogbrothers Rewatch! This is an ongoing series of short articles in which I document my long and thus far highly rewarding journey through rewatching every Vlogbrothers YouTube channel video. Using this playlist, I'm going through one video per day, in chronological order starting from the very beginning, and sharing my commentary along the way.
The best birthdays I've ever had have been the ones involving family and friends. A lot of people, especially now, don't always take the time or make the effort to create and stick to plans to see their friends in person. It has always meant a lot to me when, at least on my birthday, the people I love and care about make an effort to make me feel loved and cared about.
There have been other good birthdays -- I got accepted into a graduate program on my birthday one year, and spent another weeping over the This Is Us finale while building a LEGO set alone in my office. But for me, it's the birthdays that other people make the effort to specialize that stick the most in my memory.
Sometimes, even a bunch of strangers wishing you a happy birthday on the internet can make an already good day a thousand times better.