Summer in the Time of Corona
The Nelms boys exploring Little Crum Creek. Photo: Satya Nelms
Between us, my husband and I have six siblings, and a few friends who have become family after years of friendship. There are pockets of us here and there, and altogether we cover the better part of the Eastern Seaboard, as far north as Massachusetts and as far south as Georgia. A few years ago, we committed to traveling together every summer. Everyone doesn’t always make it, but we do our best.
These trips are one of my favorite parts of summertime. This year, there won’t be one. There is so much about this summer that is not the way I envisioned it, and it can be easy to focus on what I cannot do. But I have challenged myself, as I often challenge my children, to focus instead on what is possible.
Swarthmore tends to be quieter in the summer, especially in August. College students are away; neighbors head north for respite from the heat and humidity; families take advantage of the break in the school year. But this summer’s quiet feels different. Outside of Saturdays, when the farmers market breathes life into the borough parking lot, the town seems to sleep.
Swarthmore resident Joanna Stevens says she and her family are having “a very home kind of summer.” They set up badminton in the yard and have been doing lots of cooking and baking. One weekend, they organized a staycation with everyone switching beds and designing a family activity. Joanna planned a survivor challenge.
The Stevens family has also been learning new skills. Joanna enlisted her 11-year-old son Wyatt to cut her hair. “He was really bored,” she explains, “and I was really desperate for a haircut.” After watching some videos on YouTube, Joanna instructed Wyatt to take off 2 inches. When he was done, Joanna had 10 fewer inches of hair. But says she likes it. “It was the change I didn’t know I needed. We’re learning new skills: haircutting and flexibility.”
Newly sprouted pole beans in the Nelms plot in Swarthmore’s community garden. Photo: Satya Nelms
For Cathy Darrell, known affectionately as “Woodshop Cathy” at Swarthmore Presbyterian Nursery Day School, “This was supposed to be one of those blockbuster summers.” Darrell turned 70 in June and will celebrate 40 years of marriage in October. Family members from far and wide were supposed to join her at her home for a big party to honor these milestones. To say the turn of events has been disappointing would be an understatement. “It’s been hard, but everybody is safe and everybody is well.” She and her family have a standing Zoom call every night at 8:30 p.m. so everyone can check in or just say hello.
In addition to walks through town and the college campus, Darrell and her husband Chris have taken up new hobbies. Chris is now the proud owner of a Kamado Joe ceramic grill and has been enjoying grilling and smoking meat. Cathy Darrell, who says she had never been one for weeding, has been finding herself out in the garden doing just that. She says she is grateful for the time she is able to spend outside in green spaces. “If you’re going to be anywhere right now, Swarthmore is a good place to be.”
With no sibling trip this year, my family and I FaceTime our loved ones often. A group of us have a standing Zoom date every other Saturday. At home with the kids, we have pitched a tent in the living room for indoor camping. We’ve gone wading knee-deep in Crum Creek. My daughters and I set up a monthly book club. My sons look forward to their turn in “Papi’s Barber Shop,” christened in our bathroom after my husband watched a few YouTube videos. We signed up for a plot in the community garden for the first time in over a decade of living here, and just harvested our first vegetable: kale.
