Two Ways to Stay in Touch Without Touching

In these days of social distancing, we are all getting a bit more creative about how we stay in touch with the people we love.  For me, it feels especially important to find ways to keep close contact with our granddaughters.  After all, we moved halfway across the country to be close to them, and they got used to seeing us frequently.  Lately, I know it is difficult for the girls to understand why Grandma and Grandpa don’t visit them anymore.  We periodically drop off games or books for them on their porch, but it isn’t the same thing.  And when we try to video chat with them, it only confuses and frustrates the younger one.
 
 Luckily, my son and his wife have found clever ways to help us stay in touch with our granddaughters.  Last week, we had a “social distancing dinner” outside.  My son’s back yard is fenced, with the garage and driveway outside the fence.  So they set up two tables, one inside the fence for the four of them, and one on the driveway for my husband and I.  We each had our own food, so weren’t sharing anything, but we were still able to eat together and talk together, with the fence keeping the girls from getting too close to us.  We hadn’t seen each other for weeks, so it was wonderful to see all of them in person, even at a slight distance.  (And luckily, the weather cooperated by being sunny and warm enough.  Unlike this week.)
 
This week, we are trying something new.  My husband and I received an invitation from them for a “virtual tea party.”  We are going to dress up on Sunday and have a tea party with them via video conferencing.  We’ll each make something suitable to snack on with tea ahead of time, and we’ll have “tea” together.  I’m a little worried that that younger girl will still be confused and upset, but hopefully the novelty of the tea party will get her past that.  I know they like having pretend tea parties when they are at our house, so I’m sure they (and we) will enjoy the real thing.
 
Hopefully, we won’t all have to find creative solutions like this for much longer.  While I am constantly amazed by the ingenuity and innovation the pandemic has brought out in people, I am looking forward to the day we can all return to normal.  In the meantime, if anyone has any additional suggestions for how we can stay in touch with our granddaughters, I would love to hear them.

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