It’s My Birthday and I’ll Blog If I Want To

first birthday photo with my mom with me eating cake

Winter break mid-holiday birthdays are kind of meh so I reserve the right to create a party atmosphere, even if it’s just on my blog.

Can we talk about that picture for a minute? I found it appropriate to represent the changing tone of my writing on Brain, Child and elsewhere. While looking over my articles from 2013, I noticed that I’ve been writing less about my kids and more about my own childhood. Maybe it’s because my older two kids can read now, and my oldest knows how to use Google. I’m getting less comfortable sharing the details of their lives, though truth be told I’ve always focused more on my general parenting issues and concerns than the ins and outs of my kids’ personalities. Luckily, my parents have been total sports about me using nuggets from my upbringing. Pictures too! (Not that I necessarily asked. Sorry Mom! But you look good in every single one.)

I decided to close comments here, but I would LOVE an easy non-comment related birthday present from anyone feeling generous today. If we’re not friends on my Facebook page, I would be so appreciative of a “like” there. Facebook has a mysterious algorithm that makes it hard for people to see posts in their news feeds. So your like may actually not mean much. Nevertheless, I still think there’s a “the more the merrier” factor in how they rank a page. Maybe. And just to make things more complex, Facebook only counts likes from personal pages.

I’m sure none of that made sense. It doesn’t even make sense to me. Am I talking about Facebook pages on my birthday? Really?

Truth is, the stuff I’ve been thinking about is more akin to survivor’s guilt, and I don’t have the energy to write about it today. I have so many feelings of gratitude for Bryan, our kids, our extended family, and my friends (virtual ones too). I don’t feel I deserve such a good life. Not that I’ve done anything to deserve less, but I certainly don’t feel I’ve done much to earn the blessings I have. I could write big, long posts about that, but not today. The kids have been on winter break and frankly, I’m tired.

On that note, let’s wrap up this wild party. Maybe I’ll see you on Facebook. Otherwise, I’ll be on Brain, Child in a few days talking about resolutions. So . . . until then!

Wishing you all a happy, healthy NEW YEAR!

With love and gratitude for the good wishes and support over the past year,

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Nina Badzin hosts the podcast Dear Nina: Conversations About Friendship. She's been writing about friendship since 2014, co-leads the writing groups at ModernWell in Minneapolis, and reviews 30+ books a year on her website.

Hi, I'm Nina

HI, I’M NINA BADZIN. I’m a writer fascinated by the dynamics of friendship, and I’ve been answering anonymous advice questions on the topic since 2014. I now also answer them on my podcast, Dear Nina! I’m a creative writing instructor at ModernWell in Minneapolis, a freelance writer and editor, and an avid reader who reviews 50 books a year. Welcome to my site! 

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Hi, I'm Nina

DEAR NINA: Conversations About Friendship is a podcast and newsletter about the ups and downs of adult friendship. I’m the host, Nina Badzin, a Minneapolis-based writer who accepted a position as a friendship advice columnist in 2014 and never stopped. DEAR NINA, the podcast, started in 2021, and has been referenced in The Wall Street JournalThe Washington PostTime Magazine, The GuardianThe Chicago TribuneThe Minneapolis Star Tribune, and elsewhere

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