Happy hour just got a little easier

For about 30 years now, I have been getting together with former roommates for a few weekends each year. The ritual helps us reconnect and blow off a little steam. I jokingly refer to those getaways as our Wild Women Weekends, the joke being they never were all that wild and seem to be getting less so with the passage of time.

I’m the oldest in the group, and although I’m willing to rally at least one night out of an entire weekend, I try to steer my friends toward theater or music venues for purely selfish reasons — I’m tired, and I can’t keep up with them. Whoever said 60 is the new 40 certainly wasn’t looking at life through my eyes.

One of my pals was visiting her son in Ireland, doing a semester abroad program, when the news came that all Americans should make their way back home. In this day of instant communication, I sent her a message encouraging her to get back as soon as she could, and she changed her flight to come back the very next day.

It made me think of traveling around Europe over 40 years ago and not finding out my grandfather had passed until a month after the event. Had this COVID-19 been an issue back then, I wonder when I would have even heard about it before my trip back home. Technology has changed so much over the years, and a lot of what we take for granted now would have been most useful back then.

Finding ways to connect in the midst of all of our self-imposed social distancing is taking a top priority now. One of the youngest in our group is highly attuned to the communication options available these days. She tried to get us to connect on our computers via Zoom, a “new to me” app that only half of us could figure out how to connect to. After a little trial and error, we settled on connecting via Facetime on our phones.

In keeping true to our traditions, we used this glorious application so we could all meet for happy hour. It was so much fun to see everyone all at the same time even though we were miles apart — spread out through Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. I was most pleased with my beverage service.

Being able to connect again, even for just an hour, was balm for my weary soul. It’s easy to keep busy making adjustments in our daily lives, but trying to find ways to keep connected in the midst of a time of isolation takes a little more effort for some people. Having lived alone now for 15 years, I’m well accustomed to laughing at my own thoughts, keeping myself busy and refraining from finding boredom. I have it easier than most.

We’ve decided to try to meet each Thursday at 5 p.m. for happy hour. Last week, the happy hour was an experiment. If we pull it off this week, we can start forming a habit. If we continue, it could become a tradition. If it lasts well after the end of the pandemic, then we might need to admit we have a problem.

Miriam Nelson is the news editor of the Wittenberg Enterprise and Birnamwood News. Readers can contact her at mnelson@newmedia-wi.com.