Man Celebrates 79th Birthday With Family and Friends Parade

After losing my mom to ovarian cancer almost four years ago, my dad has been keeping busy by meeting up with friends for breakfast, ushering at church, and working daily at the church soup kitchen. He is a very social person who has a hard time staying home, especially when there is no sports on TV.

Like many of us, the coronavirus has been very difficult for him to eat with. But, he has the early onset of Alzheimer's and he finds it very hard to understand and process what is happening. He doesn't understand that we want him to stay home, not because we are afraid he will make someone else sick, but because we are trying to protect him from others. He keeps telling us he feels fine and that he won't make anybody sick. It's frustrating, but considering the situation, it's understandable.

A birthday can be particularly hard right now because we can't celebrate together. So, because we couldn't meet him for dinner or give him birthday hugs, my sister organized a birthday parade with family and friends driving around his circle driveway and it put a huge smile on his face.

My granddaughter, Norah, wanted to hug him so bad, but kept her social distance.

I wish I could have ben a part of his birthday parade of love, but seeing his smile on FaceTime and hearing the happiness in his voice, warmed my heart.

Hopefully next year, we will be able to celebrate with him with lots of hugs and kisses.