In Their Own Words

“’This will all be over soon! You will get to hug us again! Keep the faith!’

“When I told my grandmother, Peggy Pullen, this a little over a week ago, I wasn’t sure if I even believed the words coming out of my mouth. She broke her hip the last week of February, and at the time, the biggest concern for our family was her safety and well-being. I drove home from Memphis, Tennessee, where I go to graduate school…and made a weekend trip to check on the most important person in my life. One week later, I came home for spring break. Four days after that, Rock Creek quarantined their whole facility. Suddenly, taking care of my best friend, my strongest supporter, my loving grandma seemed to be an obstacle no one was ready to navigate. …

“COVID-19, commonly known as coronavirus, has changed my life overnight. …The hardest factor of this virus is seeing the emotional, physical and spiritual toll it has been on my grandmother.

“Rock Creek made the best decision to protect its patients, but protection doesn’t always mean emotional needs are met. I had avoided going to Rock Creek because what good would it do to just sit in a parking lot and not see, touch or speak to my grandmother? I decided that if we, as an art and educational community, could find creative ways to communicate that, I needed to do the same. I took an iPad to her and decided to write out notes of motivation to tape to her windows. I had been working on a piece of art that I had digitally painted of my grandma and had Latson’s print it for me so that I could give it to her.

“My mother drove me to Rock Creek, and I handed the iPad over to a nurse and headed to Grandma’s windows to tape the messages I made for her. This was my new reality.

“I had to speak to my grandmother through a window. At the time, I did not know she had developed a bad case of laryngitis and could barely talk. I knew she needed to be comforted and I wanted to hold her hand, so I did what she has taught me to do in times struggle, pain and doubt—I prayed. I laid my hands on her window and spoke as loud as I could to make sure she could hear. …

“A week later, she asked me to come wash some of her clothes for her, and when I arrived at Rock Creek, she was sitting in a wheelchair behind a closed glass door. We spoke for 15 minutes, and we both cried. She told me, ‘I am worried dying in here without ever touching you again.’ This is a painful possibility. …

“We can walk both in faith and wisdom. … And maybe with both of those, we won’t have to talk to our grandmothers through class door/windows.

“I’m looking forward to a future where there are zero cases in the U.S.

“I’m looking forward to Americans coming together to defeat a faceless enemy.

“I’m looking forward to hugging my grandmother again.”

Courtesy/Triston Pullen