Coronavirus: Touching photo reveals woman showing engagement ring to grandfather through nursing home window
A woman who recently got engaged had to resort to sharing the happy news with her grandfather through the window of his nursing home as she could not enter amid coronavirus restrictions. The 22-year-old woman, Carly Boyd, was proposed to over the weekend and she wanted to tell her grandfather about it but restrictions at the Premier Living and Rehab Center in Lake Waccamaw meant she could not show him the ring up close.
Boyd, therefore, decided to go to his window to show him her engagement ring as he was resting on his bed. Boyd told KOLD: "I really wanted to be able to tell my grandfather because he has dementia and there's no phone in there that he has access to. I just really wanted to make an effort to tell him."
The 22-year-old added: "The staff said, 'well we can walk around the building and we can pull the blinds up and you can tell him through the window' and I was like 'Yes, I would love to!'''
As the pair met through the glass window, the facility's administrator, Gennie Parnell, took pictures of the moment, especially when Boyd showed off her engagement ring to her grandfather. The duo, at one point, placed their hands on either side of the window, in an emotional moment, as if trying to reach out.
"I just … it was very — oh my gosh, I'm going to cry — it was very special," Boyd said. "I got really emotional and really sad and I just put my hand on the window, and he put his there too. I just told him I love him, and he said 'I love you too and I hope to see you soon' like really see you."
Restrictions like the ones placed in the nursing home are being followed across the world to keep those who are in vulnerable age groups safe, like Boyd's grandfather. The 22-year-old understands and respects the restrictions as she is training at Southeastern Community College to become a registered nurse.
The community activity coordinator at the facility, April Bass, took to the nursing home's Facebook group to post the pictures as she wrote: "Coronavirus didn't stop this granddaughter and grandfather from sharing this happy moment."
Boyd took to her own Facebook page to express her gratitude: "So glad I was allowed to see my grandfather, even under the circumstances of this virus I was still able to tell him I am engaged!!"
Coronavirus has claimed nearly 100 lives in the United States and has affected over 4,700 people.