Hold Your Hand Through Plastic

Over the last week I’ve found myself trying to think back to last January. What used to seem so normal is now completely foreign. Before the pandemic, a lot of us took many things for granted– Things like going to the grocery store, going to the gym, going to the salon, or going out for dinner with others. Life before March 2020 was our version of normal, but then the world shut down and what we knew to be normal was gone.

I read a news story a few weeks ago about a doctor who had been handling hundreds of COVID-19 patients at his local hospital, working nearly 260 days straight. While working, one of the COVID-19 patients was an elderly man who wasn’t just suffering from the virus, but from loneliness and sadness also. The doctor, fully suited up in protective equipment, wrapped his arms around the elderly man as he buried his head into the doctor’s arm. Through tears the elderly man told the doctor, “I want to be with my wife.”

That story hit me hard. There are so many people who are suffering from this virus and missing their loved ones. Right now if feels like we have no choice but to hold each others’ hand through plastic. We are holding each others’ hand through windows. We are holding each others’ hand through phone calls, though video calls. We are holding each others’ hand through community drive-by’s celebrating birthdays and graduations.

There is a common denominator in all of those scenarios though… We are holding each others’ hand through it all. In the midst of fear and uncertainty, that is beautiful. Even if it is through a suit of protective equipment, even if it is through windows, even if it is through community drive-by’s– We are there for one another, we are fighting through this pandemic together, and we will get through this pandemic together.