34

So this is what 34 feels like. I think it’s an understatement to say that my 33rd year wasn’t quite what I had planned. Having decided that 2020 was to be the year that I travel, those plans quickly came to a halt just a mere there months into the year. But you know what, 2020 has still been amazing in some ways. I’m happy, I’m healthy and I’m counting down the days until I can actually get back on a plane and have a holiday.

So how did I spend my 34th Birthday? Well, not how I planned that’s for sure. Hertfordshire moved from Tier 2 to Tier 3 the day before my birthday. So my plans of afternoon tea and dinner with family soon went out the window. But seeing as the majority of people had to celebrate their birthdays in some form of lockdown this year, I can’t complain.

I saw my mum in the morning for a (socially distanced) walk around my local beauty spot. Which was lovely. And then as I’m bubbled with my her and step-dad, I went round there for dinner that evening. Followed by virtual drinks with my brother and his wife. Which again, was lovely, just wish it could have been in real life ,rather than through a screen.

I think I’ve mentioned it before, but I have a love/hate relationship with my birthday. On the one hand, I’m grateful to be getting older, it’s a privilege that not everyone gets to experience. But on the other hand with it being so close to Christmas. It’s usually overshadowed by someone else’s birthday a couple of days later!

And this year was so different for so many reasons. But if anything it’s taught me that I need to continue to be appreciative and thankful for the little things in life. And that as tough as the world might be right now, it’s only temporary. There is light at the end of the tunnel. By the middle of next year, I’m hoping things are back to normal.