Happy Birthday

Happy Birthdays.
Turns out birthday celebrations are important in all cultures.
In Brazil the goal is to chase away evil...for the Masai the entire culture is passed along in song, dance, and ritual, but first the adolescent boys are painted white and learn how to become warriors.
Whereas, Irish children are bounced by their "da" upon their heads, a celebration kept alive into adulthood in local pubs.
In Vietnam the whole celebration has been 'nationalized'--everyone celebrates their birth on Tet, New Year's Day. Every child receives a red envelope on New Year's with "lucky" money or coins inside; they're congratulated on living another year. All of which means, of course, there's no keeping track of your children's birthdays, nor your wife's, or mother's. There's one birthday, and that one birthday is yours and everyone else's, too.
Simple. As in not complicated.
My life, at times, becomes complicated. I make choices, I forget, and accordingly my life is not simple.
Tomorrow is my wife's birthday, and I've learned over the years that life is not simple if this day is forgotten. In fact, I have discovered, forgetting your wife's birthday makes life incredibly complicated.
Forgetting where you put the keys is inconvenient. Forgetting someone's name might be awkward.
Forgetting your wife's birthday makes life incredibly complicated. Your life, her life. Everyone's.
It's true, this exercise, here and now, is an effort on my part to not forget.
Thank you, for your help in my remembering.
Happy Birthday, Frances.