Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you, if you get old enough. Also, if a couple of planned trips get canceled because of the whole pandemic thing and you find yourself with a little extra money under the mattress.
I recently celebrated a significant birthday, and by "significant" I mean "terrifying." I had recently been sucker-punched by intimations of my own mortality, anyway, so the birthday had acquired a certain additional sense of helplessness and despair.
Any plans of going out of town to celebrate flew out the window when COVID-19 flew in. So did any hope of going out for a fancy _ which is to say expensive _ meal.
