Everyday is a Gift

Happy Birthday! or other written sentiment
or [Celebration emoticon]
or [Typical Birthday Gif]
or [Platform-provided Birthday Image with ribbons and confetti]

You've seen 'em, or used them. I like getting a "happy birthday" message on my birthday and I like handing them out on other people's birthday. It's a nice way to say I value you and I'm thinking of you. But, after years of socializing on social media, it feels a little rote.

So, I decided to make a slight change to my birthday messages in 2019. This year I am doodling a random birthday cartoon and posting it on friends' pages. To keep it fun and spontaneous, I draw the toon right out of my head, sometimes add color, and don't care about fine-tuning, content or recipient. Then, when Facebook tells me it's somebody's birthday (or multiple peoples' birthdays) I post the doodle on their page.

The rules I'm giving myself on this project:

1. Fast draw, quick ink, no computer clean-up besides scanning.
2. Only post where people have allowed Facebook to announce their birthday (except in the rare cases of very close inner circle friends whose birthdays I know)
3. Don't look ahead. I do the drawings first and the doodle falls to the next recipient.
   
4. On days where the birthday is shared, they share the image.

It's not every day that someone I know on Facebook has a birthday. Once a week, three a week, one on a given day or multiples. So, there's no "draw one every day" pressure. 

​When I have some down time I draw a birthday cartoon. If I have a chunk of time, I might draw two. Then I number them and scan them in. ​So far this year, I've done 24 and it has given me a renewed sense of gratification and delight, like handing out treats on Halloween.