With under a week to go, the next 4 days were set to be busy in the build up to my 30th Birthday. Even though regulations allow, high covid case numbers and hospitalisations deterred me from having a larger gathering. Instead, I would lengthen out my celebrations to the weekend. I had planned to hold a BBQ in our back yard, with hour slots for family bubbles to visit eat and be merry. I was really looking forward to having designated time with family and friends, time to have a catch up without the pressure to mingle so not to neglect other guests.

It had set my partner and I back into enjoyable planning mode over the past few weeks. We’d created a spreadsheet to log responses of availability, another for food and drink, another for our itinerary for the lead up to the ‘small’ birthday bbq. And if I am being honest the planning started a while ago when we decided to get more flowers to build our pots up to fill the boarder to our yard. A few months on and we have vibrant pink, yellow, purple flowers bursting out among the green leaves.

The beautiful garden is here to stay and keeps me smiling when I start the week in isolation. Following being contacted by track and trace, I find my weekend plans moved online. However, there will still be cake, balloons, lovely food. So while I may be a little disappointed by the timing and having to cancel my social birthday plans, the time will pass quickly and I can stay 29 for longer =P or celebrate my 30th for longer at any rate.

And as the weekend comes to a close, I feel the best sense of video call fatigue. My face sore from smiling, my tummy full of yummy treats and the room filled with lovely cards and gifts. I am so grateful to my friends and family who have made this week fly and my birthday weekend a busy one. A 30^th full of calls, gifts, cards and cake!