Birthdays in Quarantine

My nephew turned 10 on Tuesday and our extended family gathered via Zoom to sing to him and extend our wishes. Earlier that day, his Massachusetts extended family had driven by in an impromptu parade, holding signs out the car windows to say happy birthday. He had a cake and presents, a wisely-chosen Harry Potter Lego set that had already been constructed by late afternoon.

Today we host the next birthday as Daniel turns 14. I texted my siblings and their families asking them to text Daniel their birthday wishes in lieu of another Zoom meeting. They complied readily and my son's face lit up with joy when he saw the list of unread birthday wishes on his phone. His brother and sister had written their wishes into his birthday card last night, more lovingly than usual, and Daniel's face and glasses were streaked with tears when he lifted his head from that card this morning.

Joy and love exist in quarantine, birthdays and other milestones still occur.  In keeping with this love and positivity, I want to share a short list of good things happening around the country. It's copied from an anonymous Facebook post and verified by news sources. Lots of love motivating generous acts  in the country and around the world, let's make them multiply.

"In the UK, nearly 5,000 people volunteered to help the most vulnerable. In NY, 1,000 people offered to come out of retirement to help health care workers - in the first 24 hours of the request. People are stocking grocery shelves all night and letting old people shop first. Carnival Cruise line aid “We can match those big Navy Hospital ships with some fully staffed cruise ships” GM, Ford and Tesla said "hold our cars and watch this; we can make those ventilators where we were making cars." Restaurants and schools said, "We’ve got kitchens and staff; we can feed kids.” Churches are holding on-line services and taking care of their members and community. NBA basketball players said, “Hold our basketballs while we write checks to pay the arena staff.” Construction companies said, “Here are some masks for the medical staff and doctors”. Breweries are making sanitizer out of left-over ingredients."

Stay safe and well and take heart.
Love,
Laura