Birthday Celebrations in a Bubble

Wow! So it’s taken over 50 years but finally, I have been grounded and I can’t go out on my birthday. Mind you, it took a Prime Minister to make this happen. Many have previously tried, all failed!
This grounding is not going to stop me from having a party- a very small one that is, inside my social bubble of two, and I decided that maybe my dog can indeed come into the house for 5 minutes while I blow the candles out on my birthday pavlova.
Just because we are in lockdown is every reason to put on my favorite dress and some makeup, a squirt or two of my favorite perfume and off I go, out to dinner in “The Kitchen”.
Yes, this evening I am stepping out of my bedroom/study to dine with my son who is downing tools (putting down the controller and headset for his PS4) and traveling all the way across the house from the living room to have a birthday dinner with me in The Kitchen.
Yesterday I dressed up and braved the supermarket to buy some goodies for my “party” - birthday candles and a packet of marshmallow Easter eggs. I also have a bottle of French bubbly that I will share, sparingly with my son, he is only 17 after all. I wanted to make chocolate custard eclairs but there were no eclair cases in the bakery section and I don’t fancy my chances with this temperamental oven in the house where I live.
The highlight for me, in going to the supermarket was seeing my darling Mum who lives 36 km from here. She too had escaped her home for a couple of hours to get some “things” from the supermarket.
I had tears in my eyes when I saw her car parked outside and I immediately rang her once I got past the biohazard guard at the entrance. “Mum,” I almost cried into my phone. “Are you in the supermarket?”
“Yes, I am,” was her startled reply.
“I am too. I saw your car outside.” I hurriedly explained. “Where are you?”
“I am over by the frozen goods, near the wine,” I cut her off and make a slow dash to the freezer cabinets, avoiding other shoppers, keeping my two meters from everyone. I need no instructions for finding the wine section. I can do that backward and blindfolded.
I want to hug her but it is forbidden and the masked and mysterious staff members will no doubt tell me off like I am some petulant six-year-old. Power and paranoia do funny things to people in a time of crisis. So my Mum and I chatted and then she wished me a Happy Birthday for "tomorrow."
I left her in the frozens across from my familiar territory of wine, still with a few tears in my eyes.
I miss my Mum.

I have tried to walk my dog every day during lock-down and daily the streets are becoming more and more deserted as New Zealanders are being told to stop driving around except for essential trips. I see a few strangers walking outside, sometimes with a dog too also the occasional jogger or cyclist.
In the midday news, the number of COVD 19 cases has risen again, despite our stringent border controls and national self-isolation policy. One of my work colleagues hopes that we will be freed from our houses before her birthday in May. I assure her that we probably will be “out” by then.        But even if we are still housebound there are worse things on the planet than having a birthday in self-isolation. 
I will leave that thought with you today as soon I will be meeting my son in the kitchen. I am going to teach him how to make a steak pie from scratch. 
These are good times, precious times to have and to cherish in this extraordinary time on Earth.

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