Lockdown Day 4 - Birthdays

Birthdays. What have we made them? When did it become to important to have guests, and cake, and gifts?

In our family we have had three birthdays in two days in our family, and still have another to come on Wednesday. Under normal circumstances, this would be a very busy week. Two of the birthdays are on my husband's side, so it would involve traveling out of town, and then coming back for the other two. We eat way too much of what we probably shouldn't have, and spend a lot of money that we sometimes don't have. Don't get me wrong: we don't do any of this unwillingly; it just seems a little crazy now. All because, this year, there was none of that.

Being in lockdown means that my father-in-law's 70th birthday party that should have happened the past weekend did not happen. We were all pretty disappointed. He is the first member of his family to live that long, and his life is something to be celebrated. Everything that been planned and booked and prepared, and then had to be cancelled - but you know what? We decided to have a little pre-birthday dinner with the family last Wednesday, and then yesterday my mother-in-law prepared a beautiful breakfast spread for him on their patio. It looked like they could have been at a fancy hotel. It was perfect.

Today was Sam's birthday. He realised only yesterday that he would not be having a party. To be honest, he probably didn't realise right then that he would not be getting a present either (his request was a hamster, and that is not something you can hide in the house for a week before). He only turned five, so I wasn't expecting it to go as smoothly as it did with my father-in-law, but you know what? He started his day with a birthday cake and card, then his classmates and friends all sent him the most amazing video messages, and we ended the day with an international family Zoom chat - all of which totally made his day.

Today's lockdown lesson is that the most valuable thing you can give someone else is your presence. Gifts are great, but they aren't the goal. I, for one, managed to make a successful cake (with homemade dulce de leche topping), had zero stress, and fully engaged with my birthday boy the entire day. I'm not really a birthday person myself, but I could get used to this.