WASHINGTON — To say the last three months have been a whirlwind, especially of negativity and stress, would be an understatement. There's a lot of information to keep up on, places that we can't currently visit, our happy places either drastically barren or closed entirely.
But not everything is dark, and not everything is closed. So what do you do in a global pandemic, when everything about your "normal" is ... well, not normal? You get creative. And in that creativity, you find some hope.
A small sample platter of what's not canceled: driveway dance parties, birthday car parades, and window scavenger hunts. Zoom watch parties and virtual weddings and so much sourdough bread baking you should win awards.
Backyard patios as makeshift proms, tip jars for your favorite restaurant workers, books Togo, DJ sets, and Kennedy Center worthy performances brought to your living room online.
So, yes. We know it's been a lot lately.
Here are some of our favorite scraps of hope and happiness we have seen all around the DMV lately.
Creative solutions
When UMD students created Terpsanitizer:
...how our hair has never been worse. Or better, depending on who you've let cut it so far:
Car parades
How birthday parades bring the party to you, whether you're turning 100 or 5:
Others were teachers from local high schools, showing their students some socially distant love:
Speaking of cars on the roads, let's not forget that time that we saw the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air car roaming downtown in March:
Our how local fire departments have gotten to bring a little extra cheer to little ones.
Neighborly Love
This Southeast neighborhood hosted a socially distanced brisket to-go, smoking 42 pounds of the meat for prepacked meals to go.
This DC woman treats every day like her personal Halloween to spread positive messages in quarantine from her porch.
A grandma who took custody of three great-grandkids can finally breathe a sigh of relief after being threatened with an eviction in March.
Once viewers heard 68-year-old Geneva Weeks' story 10 days ago, they rallied together to donate more than $5,000 toward her rent.
Music stays rocking
DC bagpiper and firefighter Jim Mazarra is lifting spirits all around our town.
Granny and the Boys: The 87-year-old Alice Donahue and her rockers who perform impromptu stoop concerts:
...and it wouldn't be coping without some Animal Crossing, the game that gave us DMVers the satisfaction of being on an island, minus traveling.
