If you are like me at all, you’ve been trying all sorts of new solutions during the pandemic. How to exercise. Ways to (hopefully) look your best during Zoom business calls. Tips for grocery shopping without worrying (too much). We’ve all had to pick up a bunch of new skills.
Easter 2020 came and went, and we weren’t sure how to celebrate. Could we make what might have been a shrivelled up version of a celebration into something better? The idea of a Zoom dinner popped into my head.
We pitched the idea to our dispersed family members. Some were comfortable with technology, some not. We prepared a small-sized Easter dinner, sent the link to our loved ones, and waited.
Sure enough, one by one the little named boxes popped up on our screen, and our Zoom dinner began. It was a thing. We toasted the Easter season with glasses of wine raised virtually and in person. We felt weird eating in front of a screen, but much better than the alternative.
Over the past number of months, our tradition has continued. Every week, we have held a Zoom dinner. Some of the family members made it, some didn’t. Yet, we’ve kept Zooming and “dinner-ing”.
Of course, there were the usual dropped calls, microphone and headphone problems, and bandwidth issues. We’ve fixed them, one by one. Then, sometimes, they get unfixed.
Here we are, months into the pandemic. Some communities are recording better numbers, some are posting suffering more. Yet our Zoom dinners continue. We share recipes, dash back and forth to the kitchen to get our food, talk about takeout dinners we’ve ordered, and remember family adventures of years ago.
Through the ups and downs of all those graphs on government websites, we keep our spirits up, reflect on the follies of idiot politicians, and hope for better days ahead. Hope, rather than despair. Optimism, versus depression.
Zoom dinners. I think this will be one family tradition that may well last once this pandemic is behind us. Sooner rather than later, please!
(Image credit: Ella Ollson on Unsplash.)
