It is stories like this that urge us to keep our spirit high at the time of a global health crisis.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on March 20, 2020. It has since been updated.
Caryl shared a great relationship with her grandpa Shelton, who stayed at the Premier Living & Rehab Center. She visited him every day to spend some quality time with him. The kind granddaughter also made sure his daily requirements like his laundry were taken care of while she visited him. But owing to the current health crisis caused by the outbreak of the coronavirus, she could not continue her daily visits. This was all the more upsetting for Caryl because she had a very special piece of news to share with her beloved grandpa. Instead of letting the pandemic douse the happy moment, she resorted to delivering the news in a sweet way.
Carly Boyd got engaged recently and couldn't wait to share the news with 87YO Sheldon. Because of the quarantine situation that the rehab inmates were in, she was not allowed to meet him in his ward for the sake of his health, reports PEOPLE.
But what followed, left nursing-home administrator Gennie Parnell all emotional. “Carly and her grandfather are very close. They have a special bond and relationship. You see her coming and going all of the time to see him,” Parnell tells PEOPLE. “She showed me the ring and we kept talking… but I watched Carly a couple of times look over toward the wing where her grandfather is living.”
It was clear that Carly was longing to see him, but didn't want to put his health at risk.
“She didn’t say anything and as she was getting ready to leave, I said, ‘Do you want to step over there to the window and say hey?'” Parnell continues. “I had that feeling that she would love to go over there but maybe she was afraid to ask or thought it wouldn’t be acceptable.”
“I said it would be a shame for her not to be able to go over there and at least say hello,” adds Parnell.
Caryl did not take a moment to say yes to the offer and immediately went and stood by the window of her grandfather. On the other hand, Parnell and a few staff members went to notify Parnell that he has a surprise waiting for him at the window.
“He was just laying up on the bed very comfortably, eating his ice cream, and we said, ‘We’ve got a surprise for you!'” Parnell recalls. “I lifted the shade… and Carly had stepped up to the window and she was holding her hand up pointing at her finger.”
“When he sat up on the side of the bed, I think that’s when it really hit him that it was his granddaughter,” the nursing home administrator says of Shelton, who she described as “the happiest, sweetest” man. “It certainly thrilled him because he loves her very much.”
It took him a minute to understand what was going on but when he did, it was such a beautiful, emotional moment that both Caryl and her grandpa broke down in tears.
“She was telling him she got engaged and he was saying, ‘Come around, come on in,’ and she said, ‘I can’t because of the virus!'” Parnell continues. “So he stood up and she put her hand on the window and he put his hand on the window. It was so sweet.”
“She started crying and she told him she loved him and when he told her he loved her, you could hear his voice waver a bit and we lost it at that point,” Parnell adds. “I had my cell phone in my hand because I knew it was gonna be good.”
The precious moment warmed many hearts as the story went around on social media.
While people from all around the globe are coping with the crisis, stories like this give us hope.
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Cover Image Source: Facebook | Premier Living & Rehab Center Info Page
