A Birthday to Remember

I forced a smile as my brother and sister blew out their birthday candles, even though the last thing I felt was happiness. Today, every last glimmer of hope I'd held onto was gone because no matter how much I'd planned and wished, I failed to create a tropical 11th birthday for my twin siblings.

The worldwide pandemic which sent countries into chaos and resulted in loss everywhere; whether it was losing a country's economic stability, losing a loved one, losing celebrations or losing opportunities. We lost a milestone, my twin siblings were turning 11 which was really special because it was their first "Repdigit year."

To commemorate such a special day I planned a tropical vacation in Miami, Florida because my siblings' birthday was in December and celebrating in Florida would give them their first ever tropical birthday with a beautiful summer instead of an icy winter. That was when disaster struck; March 2020, when the entire world shut down. Although our trip wasn't looking like a possibility, I remained optimistic and thought by December everything would be calm, but with each day passing, Covid-19 cases continued to rise and my hope started to slip until the tropical birthday became a desperate wish.

Obviously Covid-19 kept us from enjoying our vacation and instead of lounging at the beach, we had to settle for a homemade cake and a small party with just family in the confines of our house. And as my sibling cut their cake I can't help but think about what could've been, how today would have gone if Coronavirus never existed. I imagine us building sandcastles on the beach and competing for the tallest one. I imagine my siblings celebrating their birthday in a gorgeous park with no snow or chilly weather. Sadly, these moments will remain only in my imagination but I would give anything for it to be reality.

My sister shakes me, jolting me from my thoughts.

"Let's have cake and open presents!" She grins and proceeds to collect all the presents to open, I force another smile but she sees through it.

"Let it go already! We're not in Florida but it's still our birthday, so let's just enjoy this party."

I sigh. "I just- I don't understand why you aren't more upset about this."

She shrugs. "Well from my perspective, I consider ourselves lucky. I mean around the world so many people have lost their lives or loved ones. I guess I feel grateful that our family is safe and the only thing we lost was a birthday."

"Huh." Is all I can say. From my sister's perspective our problem seems way smaller and thinking about it that way I feel grateful too.

 So I try to enjoy the party with my family, we talk, laugh, play games and end up having a great time. We discuss the possibility of taking the trip next year and I feel hope again, maybe we could make up for this missed milestone.