While I'm still grateful for it, I must admit that it is very telling how little my family really cares about me or making things special for me. A little while ago, my mom, brother and his kids were singing "Happy Birthday" to me and it starts off with my mom carrying the cake all throughout the house as she spends a few minutes watching my nephew beat some level of Candy Crush on her ipad. Then she comes to my room, puts the cake down next to me, while the candles are still lit, and leaves for another few minutes to go get everybody else. While she is gone, the candles are melting and the fire goes out and everyone else is crowded around the ipad again, only to return and see what happened to the cake.
Again, I'm still appreciative of the gesture and I've never been the type of person who feels like their birthday (or celebration of it) implies that I deserve special treatment or something. But this attempt was so lackluster when compared to what a few friends and a bunch of strangers did for me on my real birthday a few days ago. And it really shows how out of touch my family is with me.