Happy 38th Birthday Princess Anji
Our darling Anjali,
Happy 38th birthday! How we wish we could celebrate this milestone all together, happy, joyous even, for no doubt you would have planned the event with considerable attention to detail, down to the type of candles on your birthday cake.
Darling daughter, the world is a changed place since your last birthday, for now we live in the midst of the Coronavirus, which has devastated families, healthcare workers, isolated people, shut down schools, businesses, restaurants, theater, cinemas….indeed all of life is altered as a result of this pandemic.
You read and collected a slew of fiction on such topics, and no one ever imagined real life situation in the time of a pandemic, but here we are in 2020, with lives, dreams, aspirations altered forever. What would you make of all of this, we wonder.
Even in the midst of this scary time, and perhaps because of it, humans are becoming much more focused on the importance of relationships, family, values, priorities. We wait for an effective vaccine to be developed, tested, and available, but that is a few months or even a year away. In the meantime, we try to conduct our lives in self-isolation, going out just briefly for necessities such as groceries.
Schools and colleges have gone virtual, and where they have reopened for face to face instruction, the virus has spread quickly. Lack of a coordinated response by our leaders continues to exacerbate the problem, so our defense is just to buckle down and stay safe. Not a normal way to live.
And yet, we do find reasons to smile and enjoy life - watching the birds at our bird feeders, the flowers in the garden, the blue sky, a good movie, seeing Tanya’s smiling face on video calls….and we miss you, every day, wishing we could hug you, talk to you, hear your voice, hear that unmistakable laugh filled with joie de vivre.
Happy Birthday, Princess Anji!
All our love and birthday Wishes,
Mom, Dad, Tanya