The sound of the door knocker echoed through the house. Now such a foreign sound, it almost felt jarring. But only for a moment. I poked my head into the sunroom, speaking quietly so as not to wake my sleeping toddler. “Girls,” I said with exaggerated singsong lilt, “they’re here!” Excited giggles and rushing feet approached and passed by me with shocking velocity as two girls slip-slid in their socks toward the front door. In a moment the door stood open. Behind it stood two dear friends: my oldest daughter’s classmate and her mother.
My two eldest daughters sprang out the door and into the sunlight, so excited to see a friend in person. Due to the pandemic, we have kept ourselves isolated at home, hardly traveling anywhere beyond walkable distances. This unexpected visit, then, was entirely outside the current norm. Keeping socially distant, my two girls flitted joyfully about like fireflies, gleefully chattering hellos, talking over one another in their boundless joy to find themselves in the physical company of a friend.
For nearly two hours, outside in the unseasonably chilly May air, the three girls chatted, played, built a fort, while my wife and I reveled in actual grown-up conversation with an outside adult. How odd that this once-normal experience could now feel so abnormal and wonderful. Who knew human interaction was so very precious?
LANNY BALL, Literacy Specialist 
Exactly!!! I just wrote something very similar to your last paragraph. It is both exciting and nerve-wracking to experience things that were once normal. I dropped off an activity at a student’s house and we were both excited and nervous to see each other. We both had excited voices and the desire to give each other a hug but kept our distance. I will say that the small moment of time that I spent with my student left me smiling for hours!
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Yes, company is so exciting. We had a visit while relatives sat in their car in our driveway and we stood six feet back. Not ideal, but I laughed more than I had in a long time and felt energized and grateful!
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I felt as though I was there in your yard with you. On Sunday my children and grandchildren came by for a “socially distanced” picnic in our backyard. We zoom, but there is no substitute for actual face-to-face meeting. We loved it, and I can see you and your family did too.
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As we’re learning more and more about what can be done safely, it’s nice to have that human interaction with friends. We had our first “bring all your own stuff” get together with some friends just the other day, and even though we were far apart, it was nice to have that distance be measured in feet instead of miles. Human interaction is, indeed, a precious thing.
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Who knew? I long for Thais moments where you can see smiles IRL. Sounds amazing.
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So true! Whenever we have people stop by to say hello from the sidewalk, we always get so excited. You’re right about the importance of human interaction!
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Like you and your family, today we sat for an hour in our neighbor’s driveway while social distancing, to celebrate the arrival of their newly adopted baby son. My daughter brought over some sunflower seedlings she started as a gift for their 4-year old natural son, to make him feel important, too. It was joyful to just sit there in the company of others in the chilly afternoon sun. This virus is teaching us a thing or two!
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