Some people just don’t want to be the center of attention. 

They hate it, and that’s hard for other folks to understand. Some people wait all year until the day when everyone around them legally has to pay attention to them. They have to make you feel special, and they shower you with gifts and love. Some folks wish that could be every day, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But a large swath of other kinds of people dread that day, all the other days of the year. They shrink under the spotlight, wishing nobody would look at them. The idea of being the center of attention makes them feel like a zoo animal, and not in a good way. Both types of people are valid, but unfortunately, both types of people have birthdays. And both types of people usually exist in the same family. It’s just the laws of physics. 

One pair of siblings was the type that didn’t want to make a big deal out of their birthdays. Their mom, however, was the other type of person. At least she thought.