“Always remember, if you ain’t first, you’re last.” – Ricky Bobby

Today is my birthday. I am marking trip #53 around the sun. It's zero degrees right now, and they say it feels like minus ten. For the next month I am one year older than my lovely bride. Just on paper though. Her birthday is on the 25th of March. Spring follows her birthday, mine is followed by four weeks of ice and cold, but we're tilting toward the sun a little more, so there's that.
I have a friend great at tracking events. Since the day we first worked together some 25 years ago he either calls, sends an email, or texts me a birthday wish. Early on I mentioned he is usually the first person I heard from. This led to earlier and earlier birthday wishes. 7am. 6am. (he's an hour behind me, so he's dedicated) A few years ago some new friends started texting me early too. Early risers. I made the mistake of mentioning this.
The race was on. Earlier and earlier came the notes. The arms race escalating with one guy trying to outdo any random person remembering my birthday. No one knows it's a race but us. It's usually down to him and my insurance agent's birthday card.
This year, he changed things up. 11am the day before. This is why he's so good at sales and selling. He is compelled to be #1 at everything, and who said you can't do it the day before? We never specified it in the rules.
I am not focusing on being #1. Instead, I am training myself to be more careful with what I say. The unintended consequences of my words can reverberate across years. Like an innocent comment to a friend. I know how he is. I knew better than to tell him he was always the first person I heard from on my birthday, but didn't think it through.
For this reason I haven't told him about Wordle. I can only imagine what it will do to our relationship.

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