Written by Sara Fender
Considering we are rolling into “completing” our first year of our new Covid-era lives, with no end in sight (depressing, I know. I’m sorry) chances are you already have, or will be, celebrating a birthday (or two – hopefully not three) during quarantine.
Now, I’m not a big “birthday person” but I was lucky enough to celebrate a milestone birthday last year before we knew we were in a pandemic and were put on lockdown. I went out of town, stayed in a lovely hotel, was surprised by my best friend, ate amazing food, went to the spa multiple times and got to fulfill my dream of holding and hugging several sloths – and yes, I had a Kristen Bell crying moment. It was honestly the best birthday I’ve ever had.
As the year progressed and more and more of my friends celebrated that same milestone birthday in their homes, either with the same people they had been in lockdown with or over Zoom, I began to realize just how lucky I had been to have been given that weekend and that day. I watched as more and more people celebrated at home knowing how badly they just wanted to get out, have a drink in public with friends and family and feel special, just for that one day.
As a new year and another round of birthdays looms upon us, how will we deal with them? More Zoom calls? More drinking alone in the back yard in a tiara (actually, that’s not a bad idea but sometimes that’s just what I call ‘Tuesday.’ Don’t judge. Lockdown is rough) …
One of my best friends lives in L.A. and his big day was last week. Instead of wallowing about or drowning in his sorrows, he went for a hike, bought himself a beautiful bouquet of flowers, learned how to make pasta from scratch, and then ate said pasta over a Zoom dinner with his family.
A co-worker of mine went to the drive-in. She did not care that they were playing ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’ but what she did care about was that several of her friends showed up and even though they were all confined to their own vehicles, they were still able to roll down their windows, talk, laugh and enjoy some homemade cupcakes and feel a small sense of normalcy.
My own birthday is lurking around the corner and although I currently have zero plans, my intentions are to purchase that pair of Sacai x LDWaffle ‘Summit White’ sneakers I’ve been eyeing (some girls want a pair of Manolo Blahnik’s but I’d rather have the sneakers), have too many phone and FaceTime calls with friends and family, hopefully take a nap and treat myself to dinner from my favourite vegan Italian restaurant that I will eat from the comfort of my own home, with my cat while I watch ‘Sixteen Candles’ and contemplate on what a crazy, sometimes hard, sometimes fantastic trip around the sun this past year has been. And I’m grateful for every minute of it.
Happy Birthday Everyone!!!!
