Birthdays in Quarantine

Out of all the titles I thought I'd ever write, this was not one of them. But, life has thrown us a giant curveball, hasn't it?

One of the biggest things I've learned so far in this upside down, quarantined world we are living in right now...humans are incredible adaptable.  In the beginning, grocery shopping absolutely wiped me out.  The new process of masks and social distancing in the stores and wiping all groceries down after bringing them from the car to the garage, the garage to the kitchen and putting them all away took all of my energy and was overwhelming. I now know it's about a 4 hour process (including usually bringing some groceries to my mom before heading home) and I'm mentally prepared when I start the process.  I manage it so much better at this point.  Our basement is currently my husband's office and he has set it up accordingly.  My son is having Zoom meetings on a regular basis with his theater company and my daughter works out at least 3 times a week on Zoom with other ninja athletes.

One of my favorite things, a silver lining if you will, has been seeing the incredibly creative ways people have found to connect with those in their non-quarantined spaces, both professionally and personally.  Online music concerts, streaming of Broadway shows, Zoom workouts, virtual wine nights, talk shows being taped from the host's homes, parodies (oh the parodies!!!) and on and on.  The human drive to connect should not be underestimated.

Yesterday was my friend Cristin's 29th birthday.  It fell on Mother's Day, so a suprise drive by parade was organized by one of the girls she coaches at the ninja gym for Saturday instead (thanks Isabel!).  Living in the same neighborhood as Cristin, I snuck over to the side of her house before it all started so I could capture the festivities for her as it was happening.  Blasting Irish music came from the first car leading the parade!