Just When You Want To Celebrate…You Can’t

I just had a birthday in lockdown. Not a big deal, or maybe it is.

I never was the whoop-it-up type. Never went out, caroused, stayed out too late and came home not recalling where I was.

I don’t come from particularly conservative people. My family could bring on a bash as well as the neighbors. Better actually, because we had a nice house, big patio and pool. My dad was in sales and was a volunteer firefighter, so he knew a lot of people and had the right personality for a good party host.

In college, I knew a lot of fake ID-carrying, grain alcohol-slugging types, but it was not my choice of pastime. I went to a few frat parties, but I worked part time in the campus dining rooms and carried a heavy credit load, so staying out late was not usually an option.

I keep thinking it would be nice to go out for lunch or dinner, to give a little business to a local place. I live in a closed county in a semi-open state, where the governor keeps teetering on the line between keeping some areas shut and opening others, doing what is in his political best interest before anyone else’s best interests.

And now, it seems strange to want to celebrate a birthday, even a milestone one. With 65,000+ lives lost to this pandemic, a special occasion in the time of COVID-19 is being alive, healthy and working. Those taken will never see another birthday, much less another milestone event. Their numbers create grim milestones of their own, sometimes obscuring any positives coming from this crisis. Keep listening to science, follow common sense and don’t give into the fear factor promoted by the miserable minority threatening to undo what good has been accomplished so far in the alleged name of freedom. Moving forward too fast because we have “rights” means our rights may include suffering and death. Stay safe and sane and we will all party again.