It was a tough choice: my wife’s birthday party or my best friend’s wedding.

Both events fell on the same day. I told her, “She only gets married once.

You have a birthday every year.”She just smiled, though there was something behind that smile I couldn’t quite read.

So I dressed up and went to the wedding. Halfway through the reception,

while people were laughing and dancing, my phone buzzed.

A text from an unknown number lit up my screen.

“If you really loved her, you’d be here tonight.”My heart skipped.

I tried to call back, but the number didn’t exist.Panic swelled in my chest.

I left the wedding early and rushed home.When I opened the door, I froze.

The living room was full of balloons, candles, and a cake that read:

Happy Birthday, Love. But no one was there. On the table sat a single card with my name.

Inside, in her handwriting, it read:I don’t need big parties or grand gestures.

I only wanted you here. Love isn’t about the number of birthdays we celebrate—it’s about choosing each other every time.

”In that moment, I realized what I had done.

I had measured her day against someone else’s, forgetting that she only gets this birthday once to.

I hugged her when she came back from her friend’s place later,

and promised myself never again to weigh her heart against someone else’s event.