Not mine, but my trainee’s. He had planned a big party with friends for his 18th birthday on the day. It was the 9th of November September 11th, 2001.

@Mayor Poppington Thanks for seeing this. Why are American dates in the wrong order?

I got an analogue watch instead of the cool futuristic digital watch I wanted, so I cried. After reading the rest of the responses I feel very very fortunate

It was my 21st. I was new to my city and really only had one friend there at the time. He said he would take me out, we’d have a blast. He took me to a house party and ditched me almost immediately. Turns out he wanted to hook up at the party, left me for 2 hours, and then told me that it would just be a bit longer. They go upstairs, and they keep going until 2am. He was my ride home, and this was before uber.

Got randomly grabbed by the arm by some guy as he started shouting to me about my tattoos and wouldn’t let me go until he finished his drunken ramble. I think he was a tourist for some sort of local football game. Worst part? My “friends” did fuck all, just kept walking, high as shit on ketamine I really didn’t want us to do that day (and myself abstained from). They’re not my friends anymore. I don’t think they ever were. Fuck them.

Hurricane in Florida. A work friend invited my mom and I to stay at her place if it got bad. I’d spent time with her and her husband before, and thought we would have a good time playing games and hanging out.

It started to get bad, so we headed over. She didn’t answer the door or phone. Finally she comes out, says we woke her up (it’s 3pm) and laughed at us getting “freaked out” by a little wind. Guess we were supposed to wait for the full hurricane force winds before driving across town. Spent the remainder of my birthday on the closet floor with mom and dog.

Got the flu and had to cancel my birthday movie party. Most of my friends went to go see the movie anyway. It was the Bee Movie

I was born.

On my 18th birthday I was homeless and living in a truck.

But it was okay cuz I was out of a terribly abusive situation and my mental health was improving.

And I went to my friend’s house only to find out that they had all been arrested for robbing a McDonald’s.

Truth is, I had known about the robbery after the fact, they had told me about it two days before my birthday.

I had cautioned my friends that they should not go out and spend the money they had stolen right away, if their activities change and it made them look suspicious, it increased their chances of getting caught.

This was a small time deal, they each got like $600.

They went out the very next day and blew it all.

They were arrested that night after the detective that McDonald’s had hired to follow them kept track of all of their purchases and showed up at their door with the police in tow.

It’s so pathetic it still makes me cringe.

So anyway I spent my birthday alone in my truck. It made me sad because you know that was the day I officially became an adult and all these years later I’m kind of still alone so I guess maybe it set a bad precedent that I could not overcome.

I was gifted the cheapest and most disgusting sweets money can buy. They looked like they came from the black market. Threw almost all of them away the next day. No other gifts.
Then, I was taken to a restaurant which served some truly disgusting food. To be fair, it had recently changed ownership and used to be decent up to that point.
And that was it for the day. I probably wouldn’t have minded too much, if it hadn’t been a milestone birthday.

Assaulted and held hostage for a week in my own apartment, causing me serious injuries and eventual homelessness.