Today marks my niece Elise’s fourth birthday. Earlier I contacted my brother Mark to ask him to wish her a happy birthday, and he sent back a video of Elise with her cake. It was great to see, but the truth is it now feels like far, far too long since I last saw Mark, Kat and the children. I always had visions of myself as the type of zany, quirky uncle who would make his niece and nephew laugh, and who they would look forward to seeing. As with everything else. I suppose, the pandemic has forced those plans to be put on hold. Oh well, there’s time yet, so I’ll just wish Elise a wonderful birthday, and hope that she enjoyed her cake.