In my mind, my birthday is like my own personal holiday. I mean, who doesn't enjoy a day that is all their own to celebrate getting one year older? I got lucky though, because my birthday is two holidays. Growing up, I always knew people who hated that their birthday fell on the same day as Christmas or New Year's or Valentine's Day. They always whined that they had to share the attention with something else, which to me just sounds spoiled. My birthday falls on Cinco de Mayo, and for as long as I can remember, I have embraced sharing my birthday with a fun holiday.

First of all, nobody ever forgets my birthday. My friends and family have named it "Cinco de Erica," "Cumplianos de Erica," and a plethora of other combinations between the holiday and my name. Every year when it comes around, I am guaranteed to be remembered by those who know me.

Another reason to embrace sharing your birthday with a holiday is that in general, people are always down to celebrate. May 5th always falls in the middle of finals, but I never have to worry about my friends not wanting to go out and celebrate with me because hey, it's a holiday! Everyday life seems to take the backseat to holidays; people want to momentarily forget about their obligations and celebrate the day. So I'm always luck to have my friends and family by my side.

Another upside — holiday themed parties. Growing up, I loved hosting parties with pinatas, sombreros, maracas, and lots and lots of Mexican themed decorations. All my friends did basic parties like bowling, movies, and pool parties. I got to do all of those with a an added holiday flair. Added bonus — this year is my 21st and they don't call it Drink de Mayo for no reason ...

Now I guess I'm a little biased, Cinco de Mayo isn't as big as Christmas or the Halloween where people may be tied to family obligations or their day gets upstaged by the commercialism of the holiday. Every year holiday seasons tend to get stretched out longer and longer, making it possible that your special day could slip under it all. That just means you get to celebrate your day even bigger and better than you have in the past to make it stand out!

To this day, I still know people who complain about their birthday falling on a holiday for many reasons; their day being overshadowed by a bigger, more important one, or not getting as many presents because holidays in general are more expensive. You would expect to hear those things from a 10-year-old, yet some college students still feel the same way. My advice to the those people: embrace it and enjoy it!