The Happy Birthday Dilemma
We kept the guest list small and the attire was face mask, social distancing required.
When it was time for dessert we brought out the cakes. (We'd decided to make this a go-big-or-go-home event and so I bought two Costco cakes,
Which, when you think about it, begs the question: Why, even before COVID, did such an unsanitary, unsavory custom ever take hold in the first place?
This was a question we all found ourselves pondering at last night's birthday party, and our eyes were suddenly opened to the fact that something that the human race has been doing since time immemorial, something not even the most fastidious among us ever gave a thought to is actually...disgusting. Seriously, even when COVID is as forgotten as the Spanish Flu was up until a few months ago, can you see yourself ever again eating cake that someone has - ugh - blown on?
Anyway, that matter having been settled - that blowing out candles on a cake actually is now, has always been, and will always be gross - we then wondered, what about singing "Happy Birthday?" After all, we've been warned that singing is among the most effective ways of propelling those potentially dangerous aerosol droplets through the air.
We discussed the matter, and decided that rather than forgoing "Happy Birthday" altogether, we would sing very, very softly in our masks. Which we did.