I’ve always been thrilled that I share a birthday with William Shakespeare. As an English teacher, I feel like it was part of my destiny.

It also thrills me to know that the Bard happened to die on the same date he was born, 52 years later. Does that mean I’m destined to die on my birthday, too? If so, it won’t be after the same number of years; I dodged that bullet last year.

If I am destined to die on my birthday, that means I don’t have to worry about dying for 354 days of the year. And I’m happy on my birthday, so what better time to die than when you’re happy?