I’ve been missing my friends! Hugely! The hugs, the house visits, the meals made together *sign*. I’ve had moments of fear; how awful would it be to contract the virus? I’ve had moments of gratitude; how liberating to have no where to be. I’ve had moments of questioning the seriousness; is the government inflating this beyond what it actually is? I’ve even had moments of questioning my own sanity; am I suffering from paranoia and none of this is actually real? Anyone relate?
But physical distancing is working! We are keeping Covid at bay *high fives everyone* you’re doing great!
The world feels super weird and many of us are not sure what we’re supposed to be doing… what’s allowed, what is safe and what is going to keep us from popping prozac. So here are 5 things that make this situation feel 90% better for me.
Front Yard Birthday Parties
Since everyone is home all. the. time. it’s really easy to surprise your friends! Decorate your car. Download a fun version of the Happy Birthday song (Leif Garrett or DJ Bobo are good ones) and cause a scene in your birthday-friend’s front yard. Own a mega phone? USE IT! Great bass in your vehicle? Use that too. Costumes? A street side dance routine? …they’re not your neighbours (I’m being funny, don’t cause an RCPM call). How about grabbing a gift from a local shop and dropping it on the front lawn? Birthdays are meant to be special! NOTE: we do not recommend doing this in big groups.
Touch-less Walks
Pick a spot to meet, follow that with an air hug (same concept as air guitar) and than proceed as normal with a little more space between you. Fresh air and good company will remind you that you’re still a person and not a groundhog.
Driveway Drinks
Pick a non-public space (if you plan to have boozy drinks), pull up your own lawn chair, bring your own snacks and just hang. Ahhhh, that feels like spring.
Window Visits
This one is weird, but works for kids who have a 5-second memory and can’t not touch their friends -or- who don’t enjoy video chats. My only-child is starving for kid interaction! So we have hung out with some friends through the window. Parking cars side by side works great for this too. Open the glass, open the sunroof and viola, you have a glorified dog-run (I mean kid pen).
Phone Calls
This seems obvious I know, but I want to remind you about the value of actually hearing the other person’s voice. I haven’t chatted with my friends this much since high school -the days before email, text or facebook. We’ve gotten so used to messaging each other until we meet in person but the days of the telephone (when it was used for talking) have some forgotten magic to them.