Or proceed as if we werent in the middle of a pandemic thats bringing the world to its knees?
March Madness had already been canceled.
So had St. Patricks Day parades across the globe.
The Boston Marathon and Kentucky Derby were postponed.
But every day in the week leading up to my March 20 birthday brought the pandemic closer to home.
Every day brought a tidal wave of business closings.
Every closure meant more people would bear the financial burden of flattening the curve.
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I wasnt sure if I should celebrate at all in such an awful time or just do it alone.
A box of strawberry Duncan Hines cake mix in my pantry.
Two 3 candles buried in my drawer, presumably relics from the year I turned 33.
Im a single lady who lives alone after all, save for my dog, Kermit.
So yeah, I wanted to celebrate with humans.
Maybe we could all benefit from some levity and socializing, rather than dealing with our anxieties in isolation.
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Lets be honest, I wrote.
You probably dont have anything better to do.
The birthday stuff came out to $15.86.
At $15.86, this would be my cheapest birthday yet.
Even cheaper than my 34th birthday, when I celebrated byscoring $114.47 worth of birthday freebies.
Only this year, they reflected the weirdness of the times.
Happy pandemic birthday, Robin!
my friend Nancy wrote.
But I called it quits a little early.
I had to beat the eggs extra hard into the mixture because theyd somehow frozen in my refrigerator.
My pan was way too small.
Hey, Im a wordsmith, not a baker.
I prayed that something edible would emerge from the oven 27 to 29 minutes later.
I put on my party hat.
My Virtual Coronabirthday Happy Hour: What Are We Supposed to Be Doing?
My cake came out brown on top.
I made a mess of the hot pink frosting.
Then, there were the two 3 candles that seemed like false advertising.
Good enough for a coronabirthday?
A couple people were already on the Zoom call when I joined my virtual happy hour.
As people appeared one by one, we made awkward chit-chat.
What are we supposed to be doing?
I dont know that any of us knew what youre supposed to do at a virtual coronabirthday happy hour.
We talked about work-from-home life, having our dogs as co-workers and our weekend plans.
My co-worker Megan had been planning to fly to Spain the next day.
Instead she was going to spend the weekend organizing her closet.
Everyone elses plans were about the same.
Another co-worker, Nick, mentioned that hed found toilet paper at a neighborhood convenience store.
At the end of the call, my co-workers sang Happy Birthday.
I had my second virtual happy hour via Google Hangout.
Then I decided to splurge one more time before my birthday was over and order a pizza.
The driver arrived wearing gloves and a mask.
I swung fire up the door to greet him.
He was already sprinting back to his car.
If you have a birthday celebration, be sure to be safe.
Dont ask others to break their social distancing so they can celebrate with you.
Also, make it clear to those you love that you arent asking for presents this year.
But dont feel guilty about celebrating your birthday or any other occasion even in the midst of a pandemic.
If someone you love is celebrating a birthday, dont feel pressure to spend money.
But dont just send them a text.
Pick up the phone and call to let them know youre thinking about them on their birthday.
Lets make this the year we all stop writing HBD on one anothers Facebook walls.
We dont know how long these times will last.
A lot of us will have birthdays and anniversaries and milestones in that time.
If the last several months have taught us anything, its how quickly life can change.
So lets celebrate when we can, even if were quarantined at home.
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