Are we ever going to felt the same about our kids giving spontaneous hugs
Linking arms
Accidentally sharing a sandwich
Exchanging a two year olds enthusiastic kiss?
Are we ever going to feel the same about hugging our friends
Sitting side by side on a bench
Holding them as their tears fall on our shoulder
Occasionally embracing them cheek to cheek?
Are we ever going to feel the same about our kids inviting their friends over
Going to someone else’s house to play
Playing with a new friend at the park
Failing to think about where all those children might have been or who they have been exposed to?
Are we ever going to pick up a strangers dropped hat blowing in the wind,
Look people in the eye at the grocery store
Smile at them
Gently push someone else basket to the side that has gotten in the way?
Are we ever going to feel the same about sitting in a crowded restaurant
Rubbing elbows at a full bar
Going to a crammed theater
Eating a hot dog we bought from an unmasked street vendor at a packed baseball stadium?
Are we ever going to be able to go to the hospital with our sick loved ones
Show our full faces anywhere and everywhere
Stop for stray animals without fear
Meet up with a few friends at a coffee shop to relax and enjoy the sweet moment of connection?
Are we ever going to stop using phrases like social distancing
Covid-19
Out of the abundance of caution
Stay at home and help flatten the curve?
Will we ever be untainted and innocent again? I pray so.
Thanks for sharing, Danielle. I’ve asked myself similar questions. I try to consider that our society has lived through pandemics before and eventually, the hugging and the gathering came back.
Your questions reminded me about one of the hardest things for me is having to stop my son from running up to children we see in our neighborhood. He gets so excited to see another child and immediately begins running to them to talk and play and I have to stop him. I have to hold him back and tell him no. I have to look at the parents apologetically and explain that he’s just a social being as they back away. He doesn’t understand it. All he knows, I believe, is that he wants to play with little ones again. It will be okay. He will be okay.