Happy Juneteenth, y’all!

 

It’s been a whole week of celebration for me. This week was my 45th birthday and Juneteeth, so there was a lot to celebrate. There have been lots of birthdays and special occasions since the pandemic hit, and lots of things have been canceled or changed. People have been finding creative ways to commemorate graduates and have birthday parties virtually and I found myself some ways to mark my special day. I thought I’d share so you can use any ideas you like!

Let me tell you, back in the beginning of Coronatine I prayed hard for this to all be over by my birthday. Not because I wanted a big party (I didn’t), but because I love my birthday and I always do something to celebrate. Also, I wanted to keep my plans in place. The kids were going to camp, I was gonna have a staycation, I was going to go to a day spa and get a massage, and I was most certainly going out to a special dinner. None of that happened.

 

 

But that doesn’t mean I didn’t celebrate! I did have to explain to my husband why 45 was a big deal to me. I’ve always treated each 5 and 10 year birthday with a little more excitement, but 45 seemed to have a little taste of the approach of menopause around it. It seemed important to me, even though when he asked me why I had some trouble putting words to my feelings about 45. Does anyone else feel like 45 is a big deal for women?

So after I had a little pity party for myself because my plans weren’t going to work out, I started thinking about what I could do to celebrate. Now, I know I could have scheduled a massage and that the spas and restaurants are now open, but we agreed: We’re not doing that yet. I needed to plan something where I could maintain appropriate physical distancing and do something special. Here’s what I came up with:

 

First, I kept my vacation time off. I’d taken the week off when the kids were supposed to go to camp, and even when the camp was canceled I decided that I’d still take the time. It had been 6 months without a vacation, so I needed the time to rest from work anyway.

Next, I planned a mini-retreat in one of my favorite places. I wanted to go with my husband, but I didn’t feel right about asking another person to come into our home to keep the kids, so he agreed to keep them while I was gone. So I went away and did a few things alone. Now, this may not be the kind of thing you extroverts would like, but I loved it! Let me show you…

 

I went to the labyrinth and walked. What a powerful place!

 

 

I wandered the community for hours. I picked herbs and blueberries growing along the path and enjoyed all the wildflowers.

 

 

I read (fiction only), I slept, I ate veggies and soups. My phone ringer was off and I didn’t use an alarm to wake up in the morning. I never touched the TV – I just didn’t remember it was there!

On my birthday I woke up early and went downstairs to find a new yoga mat, flowers, and balloons from my husband waiting for me. So fun!

 

 

Then I went up to the pool for my reserved time and found that no one else had reserved time, so I enjoyed reading alongside the pool for a couple of hours. When I got home, I set my lounge chair under our oak tree outside and read more of my book and talked to a few friends. I enjoyed a nice bubble bath and got on to my coaching class at 5 pm, where my classmates wished me a happy birthday! My honey ordered in vegan Asian fusion food, and my kids brought out homemade cake and cupcakes.

 

 

One of my best friends dropped by with her husband and grandkids to drop off a cake, flowers and a gift. The best part was talking in the driveway and getting to catch up after being apart for so long!

 

Then we came inside and opened presents. My kids made a special trip to the dollar store to buy lots of things, because they said, “We wanted you to have lots of presents!”. I’d planned to watch a movie to finish the day, but by then I was so tired, I just headed up to sleep. It was a beautiful, restful, peaceful birthday, full of the people I love. It was a wonderful celebration!

 

 

What creative things are you doing to celebrate occasions while we’re in this pandemic? Please share your ideas below!

 

And if you’re following, my Weight Loss: Going Deeper series has started on YouTube. Here’s a link to the intro so you can get started – see you there!