For the past two years, my husband has been in a nursing home. It is a very strange feeling to have lost my lifetime partner. However, I am still able to see him and talk with him on a different level.
We have the advantage that he is very aware of who we are – it is just his timescale which is disrupted.
Wednesday 1 April 2020 (April Fool’s day) was his 85th birthday. Due to the Coronavirus situation, we were unable to visit and share it with him.
The staff at the care home where he lives made a big fuss of him. They provided a large chocolate cake with candles and they helped him open his cards. At an arranged time, we as a family were able to link up with him, with the help of Whatsapp. We sang “Happy Birthday” to him – he was far more interested in eating his cake but did ask why his wife was on the television!
We live in strange times at the moment, but it is wonderful that modern technology can provide links to friends and family from inside our own homes.