Coronavirus birthday

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Roger's Roundup

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I had a birthday this past week. I turned 51. 

As you might imagine, the contrast between a 50th birthday in “Normal Times,” and a 51st birthday under the shadow of the Coronavirus is quite startling. 

Last year, Mom and Dad drove up from Port Arthur to help celebrate, and my step-kids and grandkids came over from Colorado City. We had a nice meal at TJ’s Steakhouse in Big Spring. 

This year, since my birthday fell on a Thursday and I’m in an “essential” profession, I worked. I did go pick up a nice barbecue sandwich from Blacklands for lunch. It was my first time eating there and it was good. 

After work, I braved Wal-Mart and bought myself a piece of chocolate cake in the deli, and spent the rest of the day at home in my apartment, watching Netflix and other streaming services and petting my cats. 

The folks sent me a bit of cash. 

My brother sent me a year’s subscription to Amazon Prime. I already subscribe to Amazon Prime, so the app gave me the option to trade his gift for $100-ish in Amazon credit, which I did. I’ll let him know what he actually got me for my birthday once I pick it out. 

I guess the other option was to cancel my own subscription and save whatever the fee is each month. It comes out automatically, so I’m not even sure. 

After looking it up, it looks like it costs $12.99 a month.

Also, during the same week as my birthday, Scurry County got its first couple of Coronavirus cases. I realize those individuals and their families — not to mention local residents who have friends and family in other locations sickened or killed by the disease — are dealing with a crisis. It’s a bad situation all around.

That said, with the U.S. total sitting at more than 550,000 with more than 22,000 deaths, and world figures at more than 1.8 million and 115,000, respectively, I feel fortunate to live in a location where the impact of the disease is, thus far, so minimal. I expect it will get worse before it gets better, but at least we’re not living in a hot spot.

Easter was this weekend. Normally Easter is a holiday where you get together an enjoy family activities, starting with Sunrise Service, holding hands and singing hymns, crowding the church sanctuary to overflowing, going out to eat in a crowded restaurant or gathering the whole clan around a dining room table to hunting eggs in a big group out on the lawn. Many of us even travel a few hundred miles to visit family. 

Not much of that happened this Easter. There were rumors and hints of a light at the end of the tunnel. We’ll still be in quarantine a while longer, but there are signs the disease’s grip might be weakening in some places. 

We’ll make it, Snyder.

Roger Cline is a staff writer for the Snyder Daily News. Any comments about this article can be made to roger@snyderdailynews.com