I’m just going to come out with it — today is my birthday.

I LOVE birthdays. I rejoice in birthdays. I’m not a 29-and-holder … I’m a proud 34-year-old woman today who is SO thankful to be five years wiser (notice the comparative form here —because it’s going to take about 500 more birthdays and 1.3 million more mistakes before this dense girl is going to gain any kind of REAL wisdom), more experienced and more able to choose joy throughout life’s trials than I was at 29. Bring it on, old age. I’ve got blonde highlights, photo filters and oversized sunglasses to hide the evidence of your damage. Not even your dark circles and white roots can keep me down today.   

I LOVE celebrating a new year. A new adventure. A fresh start.

But if I’m just keepin’ it real, I’m not quite sure how I do that on Facebook. 

After 15 months off Facebook, I’m kind of a social media moron. And so, for the last two months since I rejoined the 21st century, I’ve tried to watch closely and observe how “real people” celebrate birthdays in the virtual world. Because I would hate for my return to social media to be marred by the mistakes of an amateur.

This is what I learned.