Connecting Socially During Coronavirus

"I will go with you, Dad," said my teenage son.

You know your teenagers have cabin fever when they volunteer to go to the grocery store with you.

Having to work from home, and the kids having to be at home, have really brought us together. There is more cooking together, watching TV together and being forced to talk to each other more.

But what about those who live alone my single friend pointed out. How do we get that person-to-person interaction that we all so desperately need. Humans are social animals after all.

I have been speaking to more family members and friends by phone, text, and on social media since the coronavirus hit.   We even downloaded one of our favorite board games, Ticket To Ride, to play online with family members across the US. I have been taking livestream exercise classes and seminars. Backstage, an actor's job listing website, has been great at live-streaming educational content for actors of all types.

But it those interactions are not the same as in-person interactions.

My friend and another single family member had volunteered to go to work in their offices with skeleton crews rather than work from home to meet their social needs. Last Friday their offices were shut as it was not essential for them to be in the office.

I suddenly understood why "young" people were flooding the beaches and hiking trails and still mingling as the media frowned upon them. Many of these people don't have roommates or family members living with them for in-person social interactions.

A senior called in to NPR today to ask the guest doctor, "If there are three seniors who are friends and each has been isolated from other people for 14 days and showed no signs of being sick, can we get together and socialize?"

He said it is up to each of you to balance the risk and reward of that interaction.

Not an easy decision. I am sure it was not the answer she was hoping for.

With these thoughts in mind, I had a long conversation my mother about how I could bring her groceries and visit with her. She had self-isolated herself since the 11th because her age put her in the high risk category of a complication if she caught the coronavirus. We laid out a plan to minimize our contact.

My son and I left her groceries on the doorstep and then retreated to her driveway. We then proceeded to have a great conversation with my mother staying 10 feet away from each other. The other day we saw a circle of 5 neighbors all strategically placed at least 6 feet apart, with one couple talking to them from the other side of the street.

We are living in very interesting and trying times.

There are many ways to connect socially. We now have to be more creative and thoughtful about those interactions and remember that everyone's social situation is different.

How do you connect?

Take care and be safe.