Nana's birthday is always a reason to celebrate. Every year, I try to make sure she feels special and loved and honored. But, how to do that during a Pandemic when we can't visit her in person, share her birthday cupcakes, and take pictures together? We celebrate by doing all that we CAN do.
During the planning, I asked Cindy to take care of ordering the Happy Birthday balloons, birthday cupcakes, and the #97 candles. Cindy is extremely efficient. She not only took care of all of those things, she graciously paid for them as a gift to Nana.
For our gift, Sharon and I shared the cost of a one year subscription to The Luminary newspaper for Nana. I announced that gift to Nana in one of the three birthday cards I sent her. Cindy scheduled a 'window' visit with Nana at 3:30pm on her birthday and I scheduled a group Birthday Zoom at 4pm that day. Then I crossed my fingers everything would work.
On Tuesday, September 15th at 9:30am, Jan and I called Nana. Fortunately, she answered and we broke into her Happy Birthday song. She was delighted! Then I told her Cindy would be delivering her birthday cupcakes and we'd see her later on the computer. She was in such good spirits!
During the day, Watsontown Nursing Home celebrated her birthday with a favorite lunch and dessert. Nana also made it clear she wanted ice cream too.
In the afternoon, Cindy dropped off the cupcakes, balloons and candles. Sharon had also dropped off a gift bag of goodies for Nana. At her window visit, Cindy could see Nana enjoying all her birthday treats.
I had asked the Activities Department to take pictures for us and they didn't disappoint. You'll see from the pictures that they truly helped Nana celebrate her birthday and made her feel special. Kristen from Activities told me that when she asked Nana what flavor of ice cream she wanted from the choices of Vanilla, Strawberry, or Chocolate, Nana said, "I'll start with Strawberry." I take that to mean she wanted them all!
Nana at Cindy's Window Visit
Nana with Birthday Cupcakes, Candles and Balloons
Nana eating ice cream 
Nana enjoying her cupcake
The Birthday Zoom was not as successful. By the time of the Zoom, Nana was very tired. The nursing home didn't have the original link I sent to all the family so we missed some who may have been able to join us. However, eventually, we were able to have Jan and I and Lori and Nate and Ollie and Sid on the Zoom. But Nana was so tired she seemed to have lost her zest for celebrating. I totally understand and didn't blame her for that. She enjoyed seeing Nate and Lori and the boys and that perked her up for a bit. But Nana was done celebrating for the day.
Nana's Birthday Zoom with Diane & Jan & Lori, Nate, Ollie & Sid
We did the best we could to celebrate Nana's 97th Birthday in a Pandemic. I hope she felt special and loved and honored. I hope she enjoyed her cards, cupcakes, candles, balloons, and gifts. Nana is our gift on her birthday and every day. We're so blessed to have her in our lives.
