I turned 26 yesterday, and I still feel 25. I’ll probably tell people I’m 25 when they ask how old I am. 26 is one more year closer to 30. 25 was nice; it was right in the middle, and I wasn’t a college student anymore, and I wasn’t quite an adult yet. (Like I have four years of work experience? That doesn’t seem right.)
I’m not gonna lie, though, quarantine birthdays are pretty boring. When all of this started back in March, I thought maybe we’d be in the clear by Memorial Day, but I was wrong. So I became a quarantine birthday statistic. I mean, if we weren’t in this situation, I’d be no means having a big birthday party, but I’d at least like to be able to go to a brewery. That’s all I’d want. Instead I stayed home, watched some episodes of Home Town in the morning, and in the afternoon, sat outside and read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—which I finished 😦
I share my birthday with my mom. It was completely unplanned on all of our parts; I was supposed to be born a week earlier on May 18, but I decided to wait it out until the 25th. Luckily I had already bought her gift in February; it has been sitting in its box from QVC in our basement since then. My parents gave me a QVC gift card and had paid for a few things I’ve gotten in the last month, like beer from a local brewery, my new yoga mat, and something else…it was just easier that way because none of us were really going to go out and get gifts. We got a cake from the ice cream shop, which is the main photo for this post. It’s just a regular cake with vanilla and chocolate ice cream, but it’s still really good. I let the girls decorate it however they wanted since I’m not currently working there; one of the girls who I’m really close with decorated it and did a great job 🙂
At work we do birthday lunches, and May is a popular month for them. There are four of us with May birthdays: one of my co-workers, my boss, his boss, and then me. It’s fun when about half the office gets to go out and have lunch together. When we did my birthday lunch last year, there were I think 10 of us—including two people from other departments—and almost all of us got fish tacos and it was fun. I’m missing out on fish tacos this year, folks!
I took this week off, which I had actually planned to do months ago, but figured I still should take the vacation days. I will be hanging around, floating in our pool, and reading; oh, and running and yoga, too.
Since I can’t offer you any words of wisdom or 26 things I’ve learned by 26 without getting into all of the cliches, I’ll leave you with some of my favorite posts I wrote while 25:
- The One Where I Avoid Mascots: Sad that I most likely won’t be able to make it to a Hartford Yard Goats game this year.
- It’s Just a Mile, How Bad Could It Be?: I ran a mile in 8:42 last June, something I didn’t think was possible.
- Yes, I Do Actually Have to Work During the Summer: This does look a lot different this summer.
- The Big 5K & The Big E: Just reminiscing at this point of the fun things I got to do last year.
- Bright Nights 5K: I ran in 28 degrees but wore antlers and a red tutu, so it was fine.
- Call Me, Beep Me…Actually Don’t Call Me: Me hating calling people will not change at 26.
- Super Bowl LIV: The Battle of the Red & Gold Color Schemes (Drinking Game Included): I always enjoy my pre-Super Bowl posts with a drinking game.
- Thirty Questions: This one was just fun to do.
1. Happy birthday!
2. As a fellow quarantine birthday boy (coming up), I’ll be interested in seeing how it goes.
3. I share your sadness at not being able to go to a Yard Goats game this year. It’s a crime that I’ve only been once.
4. I feel pride at inspiring two of your favorite posts this last year! 🙂
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Should have said someone who also has a quarantine birthday, but you know what I mean. 🙂
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1. Thanks!
2. It’s not the most fun? 🤷🏻♀️
3. Only once? I normally go to two games a summer.
4. Haha I didn’t even realize that!
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Yup, only once. We go to my in-laws in West Hartford every month or so, depending on if Suzi and her mother have a play at the Bushnell, but we’ve only ever been able to get one game in on those trips. But I love that ballpark.
Yup … you wrote about working during the summer because I mentioned it (and I might have tagged you), and the 30 Questions blog came after I tagged you. 🙂
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It’s such a great park. There’s really no bad seat and I like the food and beer selection.
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Happy belated birthday to you and your mom! I am part of the quarantine birthday statistics too, and like you it would have been low key. But it sounds like you had a good time! And your week of vacation sounds lovely! Enjoy your time away from “work”!
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Thanks! ☺️
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Ps: congrats in finishing HP! Thoughts? I’m in the middle of the half blood prince which is my favourite book and movie. Reading has taken a back seat lately to a few other things haha
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I have lots of thoughts. I’m going to write a post hopefully next week with all of those thoughts haha
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Amazing! Can’t wait to read it!
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Happy Birthday’week! Well, this won’t make things better … but I have no idea what I did or how I celebrated my 26th birthday (which was some time ago). Out to a concert? Maybe. Office lunch? Probably. It was so routine that I have no memory of it. But, for you … boring or not, there’s a silver lining — you’ll have a surreal, unforgettable pandemic birthday story you will be able to tell forever. 🙂
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Thanks! 🙂 haha you’re right, I will have a good story to tell in the future. (Hopefully this will be my one and only quarantine birthday 😬)
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Happy birthday!!!! Mine was late March, so I had a quarantined one as well.
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Thanks! ☺️
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Happy birthday! 🎈
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Thank you!! ☺️
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Happy birthday!! I heard quarantine birthdays don’t count, we all get to stay a year younger and celebrate double next year 🙂
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Thanks! ☺️ that is great news, I’ll take staying a year younger for another year until I can properly celebrate haha
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Hmmmm … interesting, since I’m on the verge of hitting the next number, and my next numbers are a bit higher. LOL
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Happy Birthday! 26 is a good age.
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Thanks! 🙂
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I hope you had a great Birthday despite missing the Brewery. Happy Belated
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Thank you! 🙂 I had a good day, at least it’ll make for a good story in the future haha
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Happy Belated Birthday Becky🎉🎉🎉
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Thanks! 🙂
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[…] — “Turning 26,” Strikeouts + Sprinkles […]
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[…] I turned 26 on Memorial Day but will be telling people for the foreseeable future that I’m 25. […]
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Happy belated birthday! 🎉 While a quarantine birthday isn’t ideal, it looks like you made the best of it. Hope you enjoyed the time off of work too!
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Thank youu! 🤗 My week off was relaxing; it was nice to be able to sit outside and read or go for a run and not have to worry about work stuff.
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Gigglingfattie suggested we comment on a post of yours. That cake looks delicious!
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It was really good! 🙂
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[…] be 26: This is correct and always was going to be haha. Little did I know that I’d have a quarantine birthday. Or that we’d be in the middle of a global […]
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[…] celebrated my 26th birthday in quarantine. Back in March part of me thought we’d be in the clear by the end of May, but no. But […]
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