A Lockdown Birthday. What I learned.

Okay so for a while I was bemoaning the fact that my big four-oh would be during lockdown. Yes, totally self-centered. I know but we all have those moments. So no party which meant not having to plan anything. That part I didn’t mind. I could do without the stress of planning parties and the perfunctory holidays. I came to terms with the fact that I needed to embrace my new normal and this was part of it. What is the point of fighting it? It’s frustrating, exhausting and ultimately not worth it. I decided that this would be my birthday YEAR! Eventually we will be living again and will be able to have celebrations and man do I intend to celebrate! If we survive this we need to celebrate that whilst still remembering those lost. So this year I will have many birthday celebrations. Celebrating that with my crap immune system I got through this!

So today is my birthday. The weather forecast showed awful weather. I thought GREAT! Sleep in and binge watch day. Lovely. My kinda day. 18 years ago my husband and I moved from Cape Town to Johannesburg. 17 years ago we drove to Cape Town. Hubs convinced me that it was a good idea. OMG it was not. These kinds of things cause trust issues! It was a 16 hour drive! I promised never ever again. EVER. Two hour flight versus 16 hour drive? I don’t think that’s even an answer you need to think about. If you chose the drive… you must have fallen on your head real hard when you were younger! I say this with love.

I’ve been missing my family terribly. I was waiting with bated breath for the Presidential Address on Thursday. I was hoping he was going to say inter-provincial travel was permissable because believe it or not…. I was mentally ready and packed to drive to Cape Town. The desperation was real! I need to see them. To recharge my batteries to get through the rest of this. I know that with Winter coming the stats are going to peak. With my compromised Immune System I really would not be able to travel so it’s kinda now or never. Dammit he said no. I was so deflated. Like you’re standing in your swimming costume with your goggles on and spade and bucket ready for the beach and your parents tell you to get back in the car because you’re not going anymore. Gutted. So today I received videos orchestrated by my littlest brother. Here are the videos

Thank you Mattie my little brother!

I cannot tell you how much this video touched me. I shed tears. Happy ones and sad ones. I got to see my family though. I got to see them be the crazies I know and love. Most of all I got to see how loved I am. These videos have been stored everywhere I possibly can. What memories those are. So precious. Most importantly they are stored in my heart and mind. It feels so good that even though we are so far away we can still reach out and show each other love! I am loved. What an amazing present!

Hubby decided that as part of my birthday experience he would cook. YIKES. He doesn’t cook. Like ever. Never. Nothing. But it was a sweet gesture because he didn’t cook. I was to stay in the lounge while he retreated to the kitchen and shut the kitchen door. I left him to it. This was his baby. This was something he wanted to do…. and I was the guinea pig lol!

On the menu was a Prawn Curry with Rice and steamed Broccoli, Marrow and Green Bean Medley with Potato Rostis. Mmmm. Sounded good. I told people that I would tell them how it went. If I didn’t tell them how it went well then they should know it obviously didn’t go well! Supper arrived with pomp and ceremony. Hubs was beaming as he nervously produced the food. It looked good. I snapped some pics. He stood and looked at me. “What?” I said. “I want to know what you think” he replied. “It’s too hot to eat yet!” I said. Poor guy was so eager…. he stayed. Waited for it to cool down and for me to take the first bite. To his delight I loved it. It was honestly really good. I was preparing myself for possible faking. We had an incident years ago when I had my appendix out. I wasn’t allowed to eat solid food. One day he gave me mashed sugar with pumpkin. Yes, you read that right. Thats what the ratio tasted like. I smiled and ate it, developing an instant headache and worrying about diabetes. Put me off pumpkin for a loooong time.

Supper was a success but of course hubs was doing the self depricating thing throughout supper. I told him that I enjoyed it and that was the end off because that’s what ultimately mattered. It really was special. I realised that if it wasnt lockdown we would have just gone out to eat or ordered in. We would not have had the experience we had. So lockdown was not all bad. Here’s a snap of supper. Looks good right?

I heard kerfuffling in the kitchen and the next thing I know hubby comes in with a birthday cake with candles and some of my family on a group call singing happy birthday! So amazing! Thank you technology and hubs! My little nieces eagerly watched as I blew out my birthday candles. Another precious moment! We all just started chatting. I missed that. I miss my crazy family and the absolute crap we talk. Again. This probably wouldn’t have happened if it wasnt my birthday. I would not have experienced this if it were not for lockdown.

My husband also had his birthday during lockdown and I had made sure to stock up on his faves to barbeque. I even got dressed, put on make up and did my hair for the event. We did silly face filters and just had a really good laugh. That would not have happened if the lockdown hadn’t happened. With the lockdown there are no friends to party with. There are no parties to go to or parties to have. It’s just you and your loved ones / people you live with. You have to find creative ways to make things special. It makes you take time to think about the person. My one aunt was trying to craft me a gift from things at home.

You are more aware of those around you. What their needs are. You want to make things like birthdays special for them and hey if you dont feel like you want to make birthdays special for them thats a sign too. I appreciate human interaction alot more even though before this that was not my jam. I will not take for granted being able to see my loved ones again. In a flash it was taken away from me. I can’t just hop on a plane to see them. Damn I can’t even get in a car and drive 16 hours to see them! I spend alot of time in meditation and reflection and this new normal is changing me and my perspective in so many ways on a daily basis. Perhaps we can discuss some of those topics coming up. Can you relate?

One Love!