Woman Stays Thirty-Eight by Not Posting Birthday on Facebook

SEATTLE -- Linda Ramsey has spent hundreds of dollars on anti-wrinkle creams and costly sunscreens in order to maintain her fading youth. But she recently hit on a free way to defy aging: she erased her birthday on Facebook.

"September 21st came and went without a single person other than my mom wishing me a happy birthday," Ramsey said triumphantly. "Even my brother forgot."

Ramsey says she hit on the idea last year when she realized that 90 percent of her birthday wishes came via Facebook and when she herself failed to wish a friend happy birthday because she was sick for a few days and neglected to log in to Facebook and see the birthday reminder.

It was important to eliminate her birthday while she was still 38 years, Ramsey decided, because trying to pass off her age as 39 years for a prolonged period of time would naturally arouse suspicion.

While her close friends might potentially have her birthday written down somewhere or even know her birthday from memory, Ramsey said it was easy to keep casual friends and acquaintances from knowing her true birthday by always telling them that her birthday was six months off from whatever the current month was. That way, they didn't usually press her on a specific date, and anyway, everyone assumed that she would have it on Facebook.

Ramsey admitted that there was a downside to not aging. "I was a little bummed that I had to eat my birthday cake alone. And last year eight people sent me virtual cakes, but I actually didn't miss those that much."

Ramsey's childhood friend, Samantha Anderson, was surprised and mildly chagrined when told of the missed birthday. "I knew it was around now because it always came about a month after we started school and five weeks before Halloween."

"I don't know how people remembered pre-Facebook. Of course in the olden days people didn't have 600 friends so it was a lot easier," Anderson added defensively.