Social distancing in the age of COVID-19

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Yesterday I learned how much a hug means when I couldn’t give one.

I was attending the wake of the father of a family whose connections are vast in this small community. One of the sons was my childhood friend since before we went to school in Grade Primary.

I remember sitting with him under a big spruce tree where our tire swing was hung when we were five years old. The other kids and adults were picking strawberries at our U-pick farm and in my memory, I kissed that boy.

I remember attending his birthday party at his family home, and he attended mine until we got to that age where boys and girls didn’t hang out together in elementary school.

I moved away in Grade 4 and then back again in the last months of Grade 12, and this boy was one of the friendly faces that greeted me during that difficult time.

And it wasn’t just this boy who had played a big part in my childhood, his older sister did too. At the age of 11, she started to babysit my sister and me; we would have been about 6 and 8 years old at that time. I’m pretty sure we were a handful.

There were so many days I remember her calling me to supper, her struggling to stay awake on the late nights my parents kept. She became a second mother to me.

And yesterday, when I saw them at the visitation for their father, I had to keep my hugs to myself. And it was hard. I felt a physical pull towards them, wanting to hug them, to let them know that I wanted to hold their pain for that moment.

The reason for this restriction on contact was the COVID-19 outbreak. At this time, there has not been a confirmed or presumptive case of the virus in this province, but it can be assumed that it is here or will be soon. Of all the things that will suffer from this outbreak, this restriction on physical contact in times of emotional need, may be the most difficult.

As my childhood friend said yesterday when he stood a little closer to me when I came to extend my condolences, "It's a whole new world."