In second grade we had to copy a paragraph exactly perfectly onto one of those big lined pieces of paper. The paragraph was actually a little note a boy was writing to a friend about his birthday party.

At that age I always hand-made birthday cards for everyone I knew that had a birthday. And I always wrote "Happy Birthday, ________!" on them. Naturally I capitalized 'birthday' because as everyone knows your birthday is like a holiday, and holidays are capitalized.

So when I turned my paragraph in I had written something like, "...and I had a very nice Birthday party..." The teacher told us we had to have everything perfect and if not we got an F.

I got my very first F that day. When I went home I cried. I did not know that not everyone capitalized 'birthday.' I was in second grade.

I am looking foward to my Birthday this year.