Monday, April 6, 2020

#MicroblogMondays: A pandemic Easter visit with family

Well before COVID-19 started shutting everything down, I had started gathering some goodies for little Great-Nephew's first Easter on my various shopping expeditions (and thank goodness I did!):  a onesie with a picture of a chick wearing bunny ears that said "Hip Hop" (lol -- see photo at left), a board book, a stuffed chick (safe for all ages) & a card. (I will buy him chocolate when he's old enough to eat it, lol.)

Obviously, nobody is going anywhere for Easter this year :(  but dh & I decided we could still help make Great-Nephew's first Easter a little bit special, and take his things over to him and leave them on the front porch. I found an appropriately spring-y gift bag and some tissue paper from my stash and put everything together, and we drove over to BIL's house after supper on Thursday night.

It was the first time I'd been out of the house/condo in THREE WEEKS.

As soon as dh knocked on the front door (with a (winter) gloved hand), the dog started barking. Older Nephew was in the shower after coming home from work (he's been laid off, but was called in just for the day), but everyone else crowded into the foyer to say hi through the glass of the door, with Nephew's Wife carrying Great-Nephew -- who is now 4.5 months old, and seemingly twice the size he was when we last saw him, almost a month (!) ago. (I found myself wondering whether the onesie I'd bought was going to fit...!) He was looking adorable (of course) in a Spiderman sleeper I had bought for him (Older Nephew has loved Spiderman since he was a kid) & looked at us curiously.

The dog, though, went NUTS when he saw us. It was hard to see little Great-Nephew and not be able to touch or hold him (his other grandmother hasn't seen him in weeks either, and it's killing her) -- but it just about broke my heart to see the dog whining & jumping up & scratching at the door and not be able to let him lick my hand & hug him & stroke his fur. :(  Little Great-Nephew doesn't really recognize or remember or miss us yet -- but the dog does, and he obviously could not figure out why we weren't coming in & giving him some love, as we usually do. Eventually he settled down, but he stayed in the hall beside Nephew's Wife, giving us a quizzical look, with his tail wagging the entire time we were there.

We didn't stay very long. It was kind of hard to carry on a meaningful conversation with glass between you & everyone standing around in a crowded space. Dh & BIL talk almost daily on the phone anyway. ("Can you believe this?"  BIL said, shaking his head, as we all stood there with the glass separating us -- i.e., can you believe this is happening & this is how we have to see each other right now?)  We waved to Great-Nephew and I blew him some kisses before we left.  We might do it again later this week, if we can.

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.  

3 comments:

  1. Awww, love the onesie. You pick out the cutest stuff for Great-nephew!
    It's so hard right now - lovely to see pictures or video or through the door glass, but just not the same thing at all as being able to sit in the same space or be together.

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  2. Oh my gosh, that ONESIE! So cute! I'm glad you could do the visit through glass, but sad that we are basically like zoo animals right now. :( So heartbreaking to be so close and not be able to touch -- this is really showing the power of touch and face-to-face communication. I hope you can do another long distance visit!

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  3. Cute outfit. And how lovely that GreatNephew was dressed in the outfit you gave him too.

    I'm sure just seeing them helped you feel less alone. But then, that barrier of the glass makes you feel separate too, I'm sure. We live in such weird times right now.

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