March was a strange month to celebrate a birthday. Lighting the candles or popping open a bottle of champagne feels dissonant at best when our world has completely changed around us.
Yet, as I write this, I’m struck by the idea that now, more than ever, we need to find small ways to celebrate – and I learned that from you.
If you’ve ever been on a Getaway, you know that when you book on our website, we ask you your reasons for wanting an escape. What you may not realize is that I, and the whole team, read those every day.
They vary, of course, as we’re all our own people. But they tend to have a celebratory streak – an anniversary, an engagement, a recent graduation, a baby moon.
But it’s really in the small moments that have touched me so deeply. A guest who wrote in to say it’s the first trip she took with her boyfriend after he said “I love you” for the first time. Or the overworked teacher who needed a space to enjoy school being let out, and just be. Or most recently, a nurse in Atlanta who wrote us after she took her first night off in 19 days to escape and just relax for an evening.
This situation obviously goes beyond all of our individual lives and communities. Perhaps like me, you watched with a big smile as neighbors in Italy flocked to their balconies to play music and sing together during quarantine.
Maybe you saw an everyday act of heroism – your postal worker delivering your mail. A garbage collector making sure our streets are clean. A kind neighbor who picked up groceries for the elderly couple down the hall.
It’s hard to ask anything of anyone in this time, but if I can, I’d ask you to find a cause for celebration. Something as simple as a phone call from a friend, or as big as a donation of blood to someone close to you during this shortage.
Here’s mine, in case it inspires you. I am grateful for the cherry blossoms that have come out in full force on my street.
These small acts of celebration, these moments of gratitude, these simple victories, are how we get through this. Together.