This has really been my birthday week. On Sunday, I went to Bellevue to get a COVId test. No Line. The man who registered me was in a great mood. The woman who printed out my label noticed the 19th was approaching and wished me a happy birthday. And the woman who administered my test: her last name was Karp as well! My results came in later that day, negative. With the shocking numbers New York is experiencing, I was as relieved as I always am, as limited as I am in my interactions with the world as well.

A few days later, I got my first dose, highly emotional I was about it too. The woman giving me my shot? Her birthday is two days after mine.

And my grades on my papers came in, well, three out of four of them. I got an A- on my Shakespeare, a 95 on an essay about The Namesake and a 96 about Sir Gawain’s poem and the Presence of Morgan Le Fay. I appreciate the grades so very much as I work hard at these essays, trying to wrap my head around these analytic close readings.

And, my editor and I are close to finishing this last round of notes on my book, now with a new title, Getting Over Max Cooper. Everytime I revisit this story, and the characters within, and the overarching flush of forever of it, I fall in love with this world a little more. It will be a bit controversial but, as I’m learning with the close readings, those gray areas are rich in reflection.

And so it’s been a week of personal celebration. Today, despite the cold weather, I will walk over to See’s Candies and gift myself some chocolate. It’s the little things that make turning a year older, particularly in the pandemic, a delight.

So if your birthday is today, March 19, happy birthday to you too!