For many young people, turning 21 is a huge milestone in our progression to adulthood. However, celebrating during a time demanding COVID friendly, social distancing definitely limits the festivities. While this issue is definitely a minor, first-world one, it’s important to find safe alternatives that still signify the privilege and importance of being gifted another trip around the sun! :)
I’ve only celebrated one birthday during the pandemic. I turned 21 with some cheap champagne with my friends next to the Gilpatrick House on an early Tuesday afternoon in August. I am lucky enough to have a summer birthday, so a COVID-friendly environment was not challenging to create with the warm weather. It definitely was not the 21st birthday I envisioned, but I felt celebrated, loved, and appreciated by those around me (virtually and in-person).
As we approach the one-year mark of the beginning of quarantine in the U.S, many people with March birthdays have to adjust their celebrations a second time. My roommate turned 20 last year in March, and we had to cancel our Spring Break birthday trip to New Orleans because of coronavirus. This year she turns 21, and we are still celebrating her birthday under COVID guidelines. However, she’s a positive, glass-half-full type of person, thus making the best of it.
I think it is important to remember that while it might feel overwhelming, frustrating, and unfair that our celebrations are being put on hold because of the pandemic, there is a whole lifetime ahead of us filled with joyous festivities. With that being said, still celebrate in a safe, COVID-friendly way! Each birthday is important and should be honored with the utmost appreciation and rejoice because making it through another year — especially this past year — is worth the pride.