A Twenty-First Birthday in Quarantine
Although I had been anticipating the day that I would turn twenty-one for years, I only ever imagined celebrating it one of two ways. There would either be a large party thrown with all of my friends, or a surreptitious crawl through some local bars with a smaller pack. This proved to be a false dichotomy, as nobody was allowed to gather in large groups and all of the state’s bars were compelled to shutter per Governor Cuomo’s orders. This left me with a considerable chasm in the part of my calendar that was supposed to be packed with of-age hijinks. Although spending time with family is usually a reliable backup in such cases, I was stuck in Utica, as my parents did not want me to return home in Brooklyn due to New York City being a Coronavirus epicenter.
When I woke up on the overcast morning of April 9th, I still had yet to decide how I would fill the day’s vacuum. Although phone calls from select well-wishers were a welcome way to consume a few minutes here and there, my day was still devoid of the debauchery I had planned. With that, I came to the epiphany that a visit to the liquor store was in order. While it seemed somewhat questionable that these shops were deemed “essential” and thus still allowed to operate, I was nevertheless thankful of what America prioritized as I set off to Lichtman’s. Unfortunately, my Under 21 license was not sufficient for the cashier due to legal reasons or whatever. I did not understand that, as my birthday was clearly printed on my plastic ticket to the Holy Grail! Moreover, I could not even obtain a new license, as all DMV offices were closed as well.
Not wishing to further embarrass myself by trying my luck elsewhere, I sulked home and had Five Guys delivered to my door. As I ate my burger and inordinate side of fries, I recalled that I was supposed to enter a Zoom call with my parents and sister in fifteen minutes. After quickly discarding my fast food wrappers and washing my hands, I retreated to my room to install the app on my iPad. Although the call was scheduled for 8:00, it was not until five minutes later that I finally had Zoom configured. As I hesitantly connected to the video conference, I expected to be thoroughly scolded by my mother. However, when I established a video link, I was not met with a disapproving maternal glare, but rather by what seemed to be fifty people singing Happy Birthday. This only amplified the embarrassment I bore over being late to my virtual party, and I was absolutely incredulous. The call lasted nearly four hours, and my beverage of choice for the night was a glass of water. Although remotely celebrating in front of a tablet screen was never how I could have envisioned my rite of passage going, it is a story I will be eager to tell at the bar as soon as this is all over.
