An Uncommon Answer to the Common Question, “What Do You Want For Your Birthday?”

Noah Watry ⚰️
2 min readSep 13, 2022

I want nothing. At the same time, I want everything. Maybe a little bit of that which I cannot have.

In one week it will be my birthday. I will be turning 38 years old. First of all, just wow. I still remember being 8 years old, let alone 18 years old. Shoot, even 28 seems like yesterday.

Another year around the world. As is tradition, I, along with many others that celebrate their yearly birthing, I am often asked, “What do you want for your birthday?”

Depending on my age, I always answered almost immediately. Sometimes, multiple answers (multiple video games). When I was 8 years old I wanted the Pizza Party board game. When I was 18 I wanted a Pokemon Yellow game and a Gameboy Color handheld system to play it on. At 28 years, I just wanted to stop my hair from receding (and not growing back).

Sometimes I got what I wanted. Other times I did not.

Via https://unsplash.com/@angelekamp

As I am about to turn 38, my answer to the common question is this: I want nothing in return but time being spent with me.

I want nothing of the physical, materialistic sort. I want nothing.

I want to play golf with my friend(s). I want to play video games. I want to see my family. I want to overlook the sunset…

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Noah Watry ⚰️

Licensed Funeral Director and Embalmer ⚱️ A Decade of Funeral and Cemetery Service 🪦 4x Author (2x Best Seller) 📚