Happy 18th Birthday, Beautiful Girl!

I am so sorry; I can’t give you the birthday I promised.

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You will have the beautiful Jenson ring you chose and the 1950’s retro clothes, but there is no party to show them off or a trip to the ice-cream parlor with those who have been your friends since you were four.

The holiday to Switzerland to meet your pen-pal and climbing up the Eiffel Tower on the way home will have to wait.

You have been a star for the last year, giving up college and the chance of going away to university, all to protect your vulnerable sister. Instead, you chose to work at home for an online degree.

You have shrugged off all the pressures of the pandemic, never complaining, only sympathizing with those who are suffering.

So Happy Birthday, you deserve it.