Dear boys,
Things returned back to “normal” in our home after last month’s flu invasion, but quickly took a turn with a global pandemic. A couple of weeks ago, when I first began writing this letter, you were still going to school. We had never heard of “social distancing” or “shelter in place” as the coronavirus had yet to reach our country. We could go to the movies and grab a bite at our favorite restaurant afterwards, go outside to play with friends and shop without restrictions. We could ride the subways and busses, high five and hug our loved ones, and go visit our grandparents. We could find toilet paper shelves fully stocked and cleaning supplies inside every bodega. But New York City has quickly become the epicenter of this virus in our country, and life as we knew it — our daily routines and freedoms — have quickly diminished. Ordered by our governor to “shelter at home” with all non-essential businesses closed to hopefully “flatten the curve” of this virus, our city has ground to a halt. Now, more than ever, your creative indoor games and the the ways you entertain yourselves will prove vital.
As long as I can remember you’ve made up games of the most physical sort. I have a video taken when Grey was two and Cash was nearly five where you’re pretending to fight, dropping and rolling around on the floor after being attacked by each other’s invisible swords. Sound effects in full effect.
“You better run!! Pew! pew! pew!”
“Oh yeah, well you better roll! Shooom! Shiiiiing!”
It’s one of my favorite videos of all time — actually popping up on my Facebook memories a few weeks ago — because you are so little Grey and still wearing a diaper! With five years gone by LITERALLY NOTHING has changed. You guys may be older but the play is the same.
One of your current games is the “Lava game”. Certain themes are timeless because I remember my childhood friend Phoebe Price and I playing this very game when we were six years old. The rule is simple: Don’t touch the lava which is the floor beneath the bed. Your version is to lie on Grey’s bottom bunk, upside down and usually right after dinner for added risk. The objective is to see who can go the lowest without having to touch the floor.
Another game you created is “Underwear Dodgeball” and is self-explanatory: Use your underwear as dodgeballs while … yup … playing in your underwear. Dodgeball is your favorite activity during school gym time, so you guys invented your own version that won’t break the lamps, television or knock down the paintings. Pretty clever I’d say.
There’s also a ping pong game that Cash conjured up. You guys each throw a ping pong ball against the wall above the living room door frame, earning different points for different techniques — i.e. throwing while lying down, while moving backwards, with one arm behind the back, and hitting the molding ledge which brings double points. Points are added or removed depending on how many times the ball bounces. A running tally is posted on our console, each technique named with words and illustrations that don’t make sense to me, but make complete sense to you guys. I can’t help but marvel at your creative resilience, feeling tremendous gratitude you have each other as playmates as we adjust to this “new normal”.
There is a lot of uncertainty about what lies ahead. So for now we are just taking things one day, one hour at a time — playing card games, Nintendo Wii sports, making homemade letters for grandparents we cannot visit, reading books and watching videos of cute baby animals. Just now as I finish up this letter, Dad showed me a link to a folding ping pong table from Walmart and we knew exactly what needed to happen. When it arrives in a couple of days, Dad plans to put it together in the living room without saying a word, watching as your eyes light up.
I’m so grateful for you boys. That I can hug and kiss you each day and don’t have to socially distance from you. We are a resilient bunch. We are New Yorkers for crying out loud. This is what we do. And we will get through this with love, patience and your penchant for creativity as we shelter together at home.
I love you. Always and forever,
Mom