An 18-year Old’s Birthday in the Time of Coronavirus

This month, my son turned 18. We had planned a trip to Instituto Nacional Electoral for an IFE (voter’s registration card) after getting a Mexican passport from the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores but the INE is closed and I’m really not sure what sort of documentation with a photo my son can use otherwise, so we are stymied there.

Then we had planned a trip to San Miguel de Allende to renew my son’s passport. However, although the Consulate has hours by appointment listed, the U.S. State Department says there are significant delays and passport applications could take months. 

Without a passport or IFE card, my son can not apply for a driver’s license in Guanajuato, although that office is still open in Moroleon. Without ID, he also can not open a bank account. So, none of these things will happen anytime soon. 

Normally, we have a little get-together on my son’s birthday with some of the Flores relatives. That didn’t happen this year either, although they would have come had we asked, social distancing notwithstanding. We’ve elected to self-isolate as much as possible. Of course, everyone thinks we are overreacting, but after that serious several-week episode of fever, dry cough, and fatigue my son had in February, that may or may not have been COVID-19, well, better safe than sorry. 

Instead, we had tacos and some red velvet cake from a box. Even this required a masked trek to the carniceria, fruteria, tortilleria, and the abarrotes. My son declared himself well satisfied with the meal, though so it was worth the effort. 

There were no gifts this year since Amazon is not delivering to Mexico at the moment and Amazon Mexico charges 4x the amount for the same products. I did order some clothing items for him from Zulily which is still delivering to Mexico, but there is a considerable delay in shipping, so who knows when that package will arrive. It’s not like he goes anywhere, so if his pants have become highwaters and his shirts ride up over his belly, no one but the three of us (and our animal kingdom) see it. 

So what has my son been doing during quarantine? Pretty much what he was doing before, really. He is still on track to graduate from online prepa (high school) from UVEG in a few months. When that happens, his diploma should have his picture on it, so that would take care of one form of identification for those official documents mentioned earlier. Of course, the local UVEG is closed, so I’m not sure how that will play out, but he has a few more months of classes anyway.

We’ve put off talking about future plans for the moment. Is college even an option anymore? The last few classes he has to finish are designed with a vet degree in mind. We’ll see.

He’s been playing an online game with his friends called Don’t Starve. In it, he must learn new skills to survive a foreign habitat, including basic first aid, hunting and gathering, food storage, farming, and self-defense. If there ever was a game designed with today’s situation in mind, this would be it! My son’s interest in our small stockpile of medical supplies and long-term food storage has increased. We’ve always been focused on local foraging as well as animal husbandry and have recently added on to our kitchen garden. The information he has absorbed because of our lifestyle he has used to his advantage in the game, making him an in-demand team player. 

He’s been reading the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy as well. I ordered this set a few months ago in paperback, so he’s able to head out under a mesquite to read and at least get out of the house for a bit. 

Of course, there are The Puppers to keep him occupied, and now Fuzz Lightyear. Things might not be as exciting as I’d hope for my son at 18, but everyone under this roof is healthy and safe, with enough to eat, enough to keep themselves busy, and well, that’s really enough. We’ll just take it one day at a time for now.