Our daughter, Addison, celebrated her 8th birthday a couple of weeks ago. I can say now that it was a really special day for her and she felt so, so loved, but planning a kiddos’ birthday in the middle of a quarantine is a crazy thing. You want them to experience the “specialness” of a birthday but you’re so limited by what you can and can’t do. 

We started with a few basic plans (all of which were surprises until the day of) and added a promise to try and say “yes” to as many of her smart/safe ideas as possible while also going with the flow.

We set up a Zoom video chat for her and invited a bunch of her classmates, friends and extended family. It was about 45 minutes of pure chaos, but we loved seeing all of the different faces pop in and yell “Happy Birthday” to Addie. 

Later in the day, we offered a time block for people to drive by (or bike by or walk by) and Addie was SO happy running up and collecting posters and cards and shouting back and forth with some familiar faces. 

Our last official planned event was an appearance from a local family’s brass band who played a medley of songs, some of them in New Orleans-style. They stood at the edge of our driveway and played for 20 minutes or so while multiple neighbors came out of their homes to watch and enjoy, too. During the performance, Addie asked me, “Is this really all for me?”

Throughout the day, friends snuck by the house to drop off presents, decorate our porch and sidewalk and yell “happy birthday” to our girl.

At the very end of the day, she said that she had been so worried that her birthday wouldn’t be a special one but that she felt a lot of love and that her heart was very happy.

I can’t wait to watch another year of Addie growing up, exploring, adventuring and figuring out life — even if part of it is during a pandemic where her world has been turned upside down. She’s such an incredible, independent, intelligent, creative, compassionate girl and I love being her momma.