It has been 4 months since things started shutting down due to the Coronavirus pandemic but it kind of feels like years. Could you imagine being in quarantine for years?

Well although it is not ideal, it is necessary to keep socially distancing to slow the spread, so I am staying in quarantine as long as it is necessary.

It really hasn’t been that bad. I miss the in person social interaction with my friends and colleagues but I Iove the quality time I get to spend at home with the family, the evenings on the porch with my hubby and the phone calls with long distanced loved ones (remember picking up the phone and actually calling someone).

While in this pandemic, we have had to change a lot of things, but it doesn’t mean we can’t still have fun.

My middle child turned 10 this summer. At first, I was so stressed about being able to make her double-digit birthday extra special. Pre-pandemic, we had booked our trip and had planned to spend her tenth birthday at the Nickelodeon hotel in Punta Cana, Mexico. When we cancelled that trip, I thought, well how are we going to be able to compare a quarantined celebration to slime in Mexico? But I soon realized, it is not necessarily where we celebrate but how we celebrate. Even during a quarantine, (and maybe even more so) it is about being with the ones you love and creating special memories.

So, once I took the focus on not being able to go anywhere, I quickly shifted into super Mommy mode and worked to plan a 10^th birthday celebration that my sweet pea would not forget.

Ever since school let out mid-March, my baby started watching The Today Show with me in the mornings. She loves it. So, I submitted a request online to be on the #MyTodayPlaza and luckily, we were selected. She was so hyped to be on national TV for her birthday.

Then I had special shirts made for the entire family. The birthday girl’s shirt said, “Year of the Pandemic and My 10^th Birthday – Double Digits” and had a unicorn wearing a mask with the year 2020 on it. (Courtesy of Briative, LLC). The rest of us had shirts that said Birthday Squad.

Since we were still in quarantine, we stayed home but we had a local company put out a Happy Birthday yard sign and then we had a drive-by birthday parade that included her family, friends, teachers and neighbors. We finished the day with a catered dinner and an ice cream birthday cake. It was super special.

This birthday celebration was a true example of how creating memories is so much more special then material things. Spending a milestone birthday in the middle of a pandemic is memorable for obvious reason but whether the memory is a happy one is up to you. You can create so many special memories during this time.

I will never forget the joy of celebrating my baby’s first decade of life in a pandemic.