Eliot and I had a better Mother's Day celebration than I was expecting to. After a while of not seeing my parents, my mother decided it was time to get together. They hadn't seen Jeremy since his birthday in January, Eliot since Christmas and me for exactly two months when we first started quarantine. She thought it would be fun to meet up somewhere in Southern Maine and to have Jeremy drive up from his condo in New Hampshire. Then, we'd have a "social distanced" family gathering.
My family was supposed to come down last weekend, but the weather here was cold and windy. That didn't really work with our plans to get take out, find an empty parking lot and have lunch in a giant circle. But, I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason and it all worked out for the best! Today was windy but beautiful and warm!
Our day with family started with Jeremy coming to our house to help us with a few things. Eliot and I have a few heavy things we've wanted to move around, but we were waiting to have some help. Since we didn't want to have Dad come over, because Nana lives with my parents and we're strictly socially distancing, Jeremy was a great alternative. We were so grateful for his help and to spend a little extra time with him!
I'm really glad Jeremy was able to get out of his condo and to see us. He lives alone and he's been working from home so he's been stuck down there all by himself for weeks on end. (He still gets out to take walks, buy groceries and get take out orders, but other than that he's been alone.) We figure that he's more in danger of catching something from Eliot and me than we are from him, and he wasn't too worried about it.
It feels like forever since we saw Jeremy, but that might partially be due to everything changing so much since the last time. In reality, it was just over two months ago when we met up with him at the Disney Store in MA to get our Frozen 2 dolls a few days before we started quarantine. Of course, Jeremy still had our Lego Cinderella Castle from that trip so he brought it up to Maine to give to us.
I also had a Giggle McDimples playset to exchange with him. Jeremy had asked me to get him one from the Disney Store when I was already placing an online order a few weeks ago. (Then, he wouldn't have to pay for shipping on that one item.) I also got one for Eliot and me since she's the perfect size for our Toy Story figures collection!
After finishing our projects at the house, we sat in the living room watching Freeform since Inside Out was on television. Once Mom called to say they were almost there, we all headed up to Portland to meet up with our parents and Nana. Jeremy left a few minutes before me and Eliot since he wanted to get food from a different restaurant than us. Then, Eliot and I placed the order for Texas Roadhouse before leaving.
When we got up to Portland, Mom, Nana and Jeremy were all waiting for us. Dad had dropped them off in the Marshall's parking lot and drove back across the street to get our food. Jeremy helped me and Eliot set up our camping chairs for the three of us and we had a giant oval like shape to keep our distance. Dad came back with the food and we divided everything up. I was planning to take photos of our little socially distanced parking lot picnic, but I was so hungry that I totally forgot! (I literally didn't take any photos, so you're stuck with Walt Disney World and cruise family photos.)
A few minutes later, my cousin Luke and his wife and little one came to join us. They were going to visit for a few minutes. They parked their SUV so they could sit in the back of it while still talking with us at a distance. It was really good to see them too since we hadn't seen them since our early Thanksgiving in November.
We talked, caught up, laughed and ate our food. My cousin had to leave after visiting awhile, but the rest of us stayed to talk for a bit. Eliot and I showed Mom, Dad and Nana some of our samples of the desk sets. (They'd seen the pictures online, but not in person.) Around 5:00-ish, Dad started to pack everything up. They wanted to get home before it got too dark and they had about a three hour drive back to Bar Harbor.
After air hugs and saying our goodbyes, everyone got back into their cars and we all went in different directions. Eliot and I were going to go to Walmart to get groceries, but the line to get in was really long so we decided to skip it. Instead, I drove us down past Michael's to see if it was open (it was). Then, we went around the mall to turn around and head home. The mall area was completely deserted which was weird. I haven't gone anywhere other than the grocery store and Walmart in the past 2 months so this was the first time I'd experienced seeing that emptiness in person.
It was a weird, very much needed, overdue and wonderful family get together. I'm so thankful that my parents, Nana and Jeremy were all able to make the trip. It was so good to spend a little time with them, even if it was from a distance. I'm also glad that we got to see my cousin and his family. Hopefully we'll all be able to get together and see each other in person again soon.
More importantly, I hope we're able to give real hugs again someday soon. °o°
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