When my kids were small, our family had a joke that if we
had plans to go anywhere, Darling Eldest needed two weeks advance notice and
Darling Youngest should only be told once they were buckled in the car seat.
Darling Youngest has always been super social, wanting to be in the thick of
every gathering and wanting to be there NOW. We used to call them “The
Mayor” based on how easily they made friends and end up knowing pretty much
everyone wherever we went.
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| Darling Youngest at the prom, just a couple of weeks ago. |
As you may have guessed, the last couple of weeks have been tough on them. It wasn’t too bad when school got cancelled one day, but when it turned into a week (and now at least two weeks) they weren’t amused. Then the plans for a big birthday sleepover had to be scrapped. The local malls closed. The clubs that meant so much to them canceled events. No more all-day Dungeons & Dragons sessions at friends’ homes. No more wandering around town.
There were tears. And a bit of screaming.
Although my introverted self could not relate, I still felt
bad for them. I spent a little time trying to find fun things to do. I tracked
down some neat concerts, virtual museum visits, and performances from theater kids after they retreated to their bedroom in a huff. But when
they came out again, they were quite excited.
One of their favorite influencers on Instagram, Jessi Paege, started
encouraging her followers to start group chats to support each other. Darling
Youngest made several new friends right away and has been happily texting them back
and forth since then.
At first I thought, “Leave it to the Mayor to come out of
this with a bunch of new friends.” And while that’s true, I thought of all the
cool things I found researching and how wonderfully adaptive people are in
finding creative ways to connect. I don’t know how long this will last, or how
bad it will end up being. But I know that ways exist to keep connecting, keep
living, in spite of it all, and that is a comfort.
Who makes friends during a quarantine? Anyone who'd like to.
Song Choice: This video of folks in Italy singing together
This post was created for Poets and Storytellers United’s
Weekly Scribblings: Hypophora and All That. Come and connect with us there. Also, you may want to keep
an eye on my Facebook page and Instagram. I might try my hand at video readings to do my part
at making this period of time feel a little bit less isolating. How are you keeping yourself occupied? Tell me all about it in the comments.
