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A Port Coquitlam woman who missed her 40th birthday because of the coronavirus outbreak has been thrown quite the quarantine surprise.
Like so many Tri-City residents, life wasn’t supposed to be like this. But for Theresa Postnikoff, who was supposed to fly off to Belize March 20 to celebrate the big 4-0, the cancellation of flights and subsequent lockdown came as an especially bitter blow.
Instead of two weeks in the sand, Postnikoff made the most of self-isolation, studying long hours at her apartment in the lead up to graduation from a kitchen nutritionist program.
When her birthday rolled around on March 28, Postnikoff pulled out the summer dress she had packed for the vacation and fired up FaceTime for a series of celebratory birthday calls with friends and family.
Postnikoff suspected something was up when her husband, Jimmy, stepped out on to their second-floor patio, looking back at her with an odd look on his face.
“He was standing half-way in, half-way out. I thought, ‘What are you doing?’” Postnikoff said.
That’s when she heard the horns.
“Is that for me?” thought Postnikoff, and stepped out on to the patio.
Creeping into the apartment complex roundabout poured a convoy of eight or nine vehicles, each brimming with decorations.
“Then I saw my nephew with a megaphone,” remembered Postnikoff.
Jaymee Lynn, 21, told The Tri-City News she had joined the cavalcade as one of the Postnikoff’s extended group of family and friends who had banded together under the leadership of Postnikoff’s mother in a nearby parking lot in preparation for the surprise.
Outside Riverside secondary, the friends and family had dressed each vehicle in silly string, balloons and streamers. Others had painted birthday signs and banners. Everyone had come together but stayed apart, one household separate from another to maintain their distance.
By the time they had arrived at the apartment — Postnikoff looking down on them — the ruckus had drawn neighbours from across the complex on to their balconies. Everyone sung happy birthday under the din of the nine-year-old nephew on a megaphone.
“Posters were coming out the sunroof. Everyone was clapping and singing. I was blown away,” said Postnikoff. “It was full out.”
“We wanted to make sure she felt very loved on her 40th birthday,” added family friend Jaymee Lynn. “Even through distance, that we still love her.”
That distance is set to grow for Postnikoff as she gets set to begin work at a care home in the middle of a pandemic.
Postnikoff’s studies to become a long-term care home kitchen nutritionist are set to end over the coming weeks, and the job offers to run those kitchens, to make sure the elderly are properly fed, are coming in fast.
And while she says she will have to quarantine when she comes home from her new line of work, she’s also excited to make a difference at a time when COVID-19 is disproportionately hitting seniors in care homes.
“It’s a little scary knowing I’m walking into these care homes. But they need me. And I’m good at what I do,” she said.
Read more of our COVID-19 coverage here.
