Meeting His Son for the First Time: A Journey Through Lockdown
and meeting through a window
***This post was originally published on 06/2022 as part of my previous blog. I'm sharing it here as I restart my journey, to give you insight into where it all began. I’ll be sharing a new post from my archives every other week as I bring this blog back to life.***
My grandbaby was born in August of 2021. He’s almost one — that’s just unbelievable. My son learned about his birth through a phone call. Luckily, he was able to call because during his county time, it just so happened to be in the middle of COVID. That meant that everyone was constantly on lockdown because too many people in there were getting sick.
Because he told me this, I didn’t worry when the gaps between calls grew. As a result of all the lockdowns, in-person visits were canceled as well as video visits. This meant that the only way he would get to meet his son was through pictures.
printing pictures the old-school way
Yes, I had a shit load of pictures — but I had to get into the habit of actually getting them printed.
The feeling took me back to when we would buy film or a disposable camera and take them to CVS, Walgreens, or Walmart to drop them off in the big envelope to get developed.
If you’re anything like me, pictures either live on your phone or you may find them on social media. This time, I had to get them printed, wait to get them, and then mail them through snail mail. Very old school.
You guessed right — he wasn’t able to see what his son looked like until at least two weeks later.
After he received the first batch of pictures and was able to call, I confirmed my suspicion: he would become very emotional. He couldn’t believe that he was now a father to this beautiful, healthy baby.
I kept printing and mailing pictures so he could see how fast his son was growing and changing. If you’ve ever had kids, you know that from one week to the next, newborns change so much.
As the months progressed, COVID still had everyone on lockdown. Visits were still not happening, and even if they were, I don’t think I would have taken him being so small.
meeting his baby via video visit
Three months later, the lockdown was lifted temporarily, and I was able to schedule a video visit.
I wanted to surprise him. Even though I had talked to him the day before, I didn’t tell him.
I made arrangements to have my grandson at my house, and when the scheduled visit started, I asked my son, “Are you ready for a surprise?”
He just smiled and said, “What is it, mom?”
Bam — I put the camera on his baby!
His reaction was priceless. I was able to see his initial reaction to the first pictures all over again. Emotions were all over the place — smiles, tears, laughs. Nobody else seemed to matter during that time.
He kept calling his name, and his son was very responsive to him. He recognized his voice.
As he kept calling his name and his son stared at the screen, something unexpected happened.
We noticed my grandbaby’s facial expressions starting to change. He was getting emotional — and then he let out this cry that none of us had ever heard before. It was an emotional cry.
Seeing that made everyone else get emotional, so I handed the phone to someone else. I had to take him outside to calm him down.
Once he calmed down, I brought him back on the call. Again, my son called his name, and again, he started showing that emotional reaction—sighs of emotional cries.
Again, I took him outside. This time, he fell into a deep sleep once he calmed down.
We all knew that this visit had drained him emotionally.
finally, meeting in person
Back to lockdown meant that I continued mailing pictures.
It wasn’t until his son was seven months old that he was finally able to see him live and in person. Visits were finally back.
This visit was also a surprise — as you can tell, I like surprising people, but in a good way.
He was definitely in shock seeing him in real life and finally seeing his beautiful eyes.
More than anything, this visit was a happy shock. Although visits happen through a window and over the phone, there’s nothing like seeing someone in person.
Both parties had smiles from ear to ear, and at the end of the visit, there was nothing but gratitude.