As social distancing becomes crucial for the over 70s, those with health issues and pregnant women, the reality of the situation was shared in this heartbreaking image of a grandfather seeing his grandson for the first time.
It’s meant to be one of the most joyous times for a grandparent, meeting their grandchild, but for this grandfather he couldn’t hold his grandson, only look at him through a window.
Emma, from Ireland, posted the image of her brother Míchéal holding his newborn boy Faolán on one side of a window while his proud grandfather sees him for the first time on the other side of the window, according to the Daily Mail.
As families are forced to stay away from each other this is a poignant image of our new reality amidst the Coronavirus pandemic.
The baby’s mom, also called Emma, took the picture and it was posted with the words: “Three generations of social distancing as my dad meets his grandson for the first time.”
She added: “My brother lives about 2 minutes away from him (his dad) so he went up to say hello. He knew he couldn’t come in. He is looking forward to holding the baby soon.”
‘Post the first cuddle pictures’
The image was shared more than 75,000 times and attracted more than half a million responses. Many asked if she could post a picture of her dad holding his grandson when all this is over.
“My goodness please look after your Dad with all your might (even if you have to hold him hostage in his shed!) I need to see him holding his first grandchild on the other side of all this,” wrote one, to which Emma replied: “I’ll make sure to post the first cuddle pics!”
Another wrote: “I bawled, beautiful and sad at the same time,” while another said: “This is such hell. Thank you for modeling what we need to do to stay safe, but it breaks my heart to see that granddad not being able to hold his grandchild.”
Overall, 102 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Ireland as of March 21 bringing the total to 785 and four people have died.
Our new reality is so hard for families having to stay away from each other.
Please share to remind people what we must do to stay safe, it’s tough but necessary.