Among Friends

I live in a fantastic neighborhood. When quarantine started, I had one fun neighbor who hid one of those pink plastic flamingoes in someone’s yard and took a photo for a clue. She posted it on our neighborhood page and then invited everyone to find it and take their picture with Frannie the Flamingo and post it on the thread. She kept it going for a week and moved Frannie to new locations every day. Each photo from a neighbor who found it was an entry for gift cards that she generously gave to the winners. It was a small, fun thing. Except that it wasn’t small at all. It was huge for my kids who were suddenly ripped out of their normal world, isolated from their friends, thrust into this strange, scary new reality, not sure if people they loved were going to die from this virus. The excitement of waking up every morning with a new clue and then all of us jumping on bikes and pedaling around the neighborhood to find Frannie (sometimes before breakfast) was just what we needed. It gave us hope. It gave us something to look forward to. It showed us photos of all our friends each day: together when we weren’t together. As the world has opened up, we’ve been so grateful to spend a little more time with our friends in person. Because as awkward as we are, and as significant as the things we’re all going through are, it’s infinitely better to go through them among friends. 💛🦩💛 [“Among Friends” 8x10, available on my website to the first taker: https://www.stephaniehock.com/original-paintings/among-friends]