A Surprise Day Out
About 2 weeks ago, I told my daughter that she and I were going to have a Mother/Daughter Day on Sunday, October 24th. What she didn’t know was that a friend of hers from camp, who lives in Brooklyn, got in touch with me and asked if she could see my daughter. A plan to meet half way was organized with the mother of the friend. We will meet in New Hope, Pennsylvania at 1:00.
When the day arrived, my daughter had no idea what was happening and she did everything she could to break me down and spill what we were doing for our Mother/Daughter Day. We got to where we needed to be and waited for about 5 minutes until a car drove up, with NY plates on the front and slumped down in the front seat, was my daughter’s friend. When my daughter saw her, her hands covered her mouth in shock. The friend jumped out of the car, and even the 6 feet apart rule couldn’t keep these two from embracing one another. Yes, there were tears and shrills of excitement from both of them. It was one of those, “this can’t get any better” kind of moments.
Why am I sharing this with you? Well, I guess because it was just one of those days, even though there were lots of clouds in the sky, there was a lot of sunshine beaming down. Metaphorically speaking, there has been a lot of cloudy days for my daughter because of the lack of physical contact with her friends. My daughter, is a very social person. She’s been this way all of her life and with being stuck inside so much these last few months, this day was exactly what she needed. They giggled, talked, and connected in a way that you can’t via FaceTime — which is what they have been, and continue to do, multiple times a day.
As the day came to end, one more incredible, totally spontaneous thing happened that is worth mentioning. The girls knew that we were going to meet at the Starbucks on the corner to say goodbye to each other before heading to our cars. As we were waiting for them, their camp counselor appeared. The girls saw her from across the street and, as soon as the light changed to green, they ran into her arms. It was amazing and yes, even we (the moms) teared up. This particular counselor has had a huge impact on these girl’s lives. She is one of those young women you want your own daughter to emulate. She’s just an all around good human being and seeing her, even for just a short time, was the icing on the cake.
I don’t know when it will be safe again to let my daughter just go and see her friends inside their homes, or have them come visit her inside our home. It’s going to be sometime, that I know. But, I was so glad that I could give her just a few hours of normalcy with someone who she misses and loves very much.
