On 9th January, I joined the 'fab at fifty' club.
As with the majority of the population since March 2020, I was under no illusion that my birthday celebrations would be considerably more subdued than every other previous year. From birthday parties with school friends, to clubbing parties with work colleagues, birthday celebrations have definitely changed as the decades have passed.
For the last 21 years, my lovely partner has provided many treats for my birthday, with the last 12 or so years enjoying trips to see Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall, meals at the best restaurants and holidays to lovely places. 2021 was going to be a little different as my special treat was two days of culinary extravaganzas but this, alas, had to be postponed because of Covid restrictions.
This year, my 50th birthday was spent in lockdown - unable to visit or be visited by family and friends. Nowhere was open and with rules restricting travel more than five miles from home, where could we have gone anyway?
However, despite the lack of excitement this year, I had a lovely day and all because of some very thoughtful people that I'm lucky to have in my life:
I had some lovely gifts from family and friends and an array of cards - most of which reminding me of the big 5-0
A heart warming poem written by my oldest friend
Calls and video calls with family and friends
Egg benedict for brunch
Movies and popcorn
Chinese takeaway for dinner (crispy duck, nom nom)
Champagne served in my new flutes, followed by my favourite bottle of Ned
Inundated by so many birthday wishes via social media
So I guess that the moral of the story is that we don't need fancy trips, meals or big spending. Just the kind words and thoughts of others are more than enough to make a special day even more special.
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