April 26, 2020 – The night before Lisa Hardesty’s reunion after vaccination with her 101-year-old grandmother felt like the night before she went to an amusement park as a kid.
“I can’t wait to hug her,” said 54-year-old Hardesty a few days earlier. “The excitement is like planning a vacation that is exciting and stressful until the night before, and then you are so excited that you cannot sleep. We didn’t have that in the last year. “
On the day of the reunification, Hardesty and her 17-year-old daughter Payton waited outside a restaurant in the town of Holloway, MN, of 97 residents. When the mother and daughter finally caught a glimpse of 101-year-old Elaine through a car window, they ran up to her “like she was a celebrity,” says Hardesty.
“They couldn’t even stop the car before we hugged them,” says Hardesty, a licensed clinical psychologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. “Everyone talked about everyone. We couldn’t get our stories published fast enough. It was such a joy. “
Because the vaccinations are much faster than expected, families and friends are sure to get back together in a year or more. Most reunions are filled with the joys, hugs and laughter that describe the Hardestys. But there is also concern and fear, especially in the run-up to events – and that’s normal too, say psychologists and doctors.
“The social isolation and increasing loneliness people experienced as a result of COVID-19 is one of the most devastating aspects of the pandemic,” says Dr. Scott Kaiser, director of geriatric cognitive health at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA. Now that vaccines have paved the way for safe reunions, “there is a wide range of emotions. For the most part, it’s relief and exuberance and joy to get back together. But there are many emotions in it. “
Imagine a new mother bringing home a baby for the first time, Kaiser says. “Of course, other people really want to get to know the baby,” he says. “And that can be great for mom and baby, but it can also be a double-edged sword.” The new mother, who has just undergone a massive change, wants to protect the vulnerable newborn – and she is likely exhausted. Now that we’ve all gone through massive changes, “we’re all still vulnerable,” Kaiser says. “We don’t know what people go through physically and emotionally.”
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