At this point, everyone in our whole family has had a COVID-influenced birthday. It started with mine in March, went through two June and and one July birthday, and ended with a pair of January birthdays.

I have to say that we’ve made these crazy birthdays fun and unforgettable to the very best of our abilities. On this day, when my granddaughter Bennett turned seven, we ate pizza outside, sitting in circles that my son spray-painted on the grass. And then, after pizza, some (socially-distanced) fun with Silly String.

But we are lucky: we’ve been mostly healthy. We have friends and family. We all have the same jobs we had at the beginning*. We have Silly String. And we all fully realize that puts us in a category that not everyone gets to be in.

Lubbock, Texas
photographed 1.21.2021

*Except the Patient Spouse, who retired in December.