You neglected to mention the actual date.
In any case, may I take this opportunity to wish you a happy birthday.
Be grateful - and thankful - for the fact that you have friends and family who wish to show their love for you and who choose to celebrate the fact of your existence by remembering your birthday, and recognising (and saluting) that fact that your presence matters to them.
There is grace in gratitude and in accepting when people wish to show their affection for you.
My birthday was yesterday and I would have given anything for my parents (who never forgot my birthday) to have been with me still.
However, my brothers were both in touch, as were a few friends, for which I am profoundly grateful.
Routine can offer safety, security and sanctuary, but can become something of a psychological comfort blanket.
However, one should bear in mind that it can also suffocate and smother if reached for on each and every occasion.
And the "grumpy old man" facade, or temperament, (and I write as a grumpy old woman, and someone who has donned this attire ever since I was an alienated adolescent) is also a psychological cloaking device that can be reached for, far too readily, and - to my mind - is not necessarily appropriate on rare occasions (such as significant birthdays) when those whom you love may wish to express their affection for you, in turn.