Twenty!

Tori celebrated her birthday early this year and I am writing this birthday post late. So it goes. I think there is a message there somewhere. Kids have to keep growing up even though it seems to me that everything has ground to a stop during the pandemic. Birthdays continue, kids learn new things, try new things and keep on that forward march through the years. And now we are past the teen years, at least with our eldest!

Since Tori was going to be back in Chicago for her birthday in mid-January this year, we decided to celebrate earlier. On January 6^th. We did the usual birthday traditions around here. A “surprise” birthday balloon garland, strawberry shortcakes for breakfast, the red celebration dishes and more. Tori went along with all of it. Gamely saying she was excited for her “birthday.”

It was time to re-new her passport. Previously, it had to be done every five years but now the passport can last for ten years. We have renewed her passport all over the world, starting with the crazy story of getting her passport in California at her birth, to getting them for her in Romania and Munich and New Jersey. At all of these administrative events, I went along with her. I called ahead, asking questions about COVID. Would I be allowed in? The passport woman said no, only one person since she was over 18! I was thinking COVID and again, the world is thinking – let the kid grow up!

Clearly, the events at the Capitol on January 6 took over that afternoon and evening. The whole thing reminded me of watching clashes in our years overseas between the public and authoritarian governments. Except now the roles were reversed, or sideways or just plain wrong. We sat and watched in stunned silence.

But we rallied. It was Tori’s birthday after all. We had a dinner she wanted (chicken and rice) and cake she wanted (chocolate) and we opened presents. We talked about past birthdays and all the big crazy themed birthday parties we have had over the years. This one wasn’t big. Just us and Tori’s boyfriend. And the only thing crazy was the pandemic and the politics. But we were happy and most important, Tori was happy. She continues to grow up, no matter how many obstacles the world (or her parents) put up. Every year she amazes us with who she becomes and what she does and how well she does it all. I’m really rallying. Tori will be great at twenty and I will try to be okay at it too.