One of the ways in which we’re doing our part to limit the spread of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak is to avoid physical contact with people, even our own family members.
While this is certainly in everyone’s best interest in the long run, that doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to resist hugging the people we love the most during one of the most difficult times in our lives.
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But one little girl has come up with a pretty clever way to safely embrace her grandparents without the threat of the virus, and all she needed were a few supplies that she already had lying around at home.
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10-year-old Paige from Riverside, California, invented what she’s calling a “hug curtain” that she recently put to very good use.
According to ABC News , Paige got the idea after watching videos of other people using blankets to safely hug their relatives. Feeling inspired, she got to work creating her own version using a plastic shower curtain, Ziploc bags, and disposable plates.
“She came up with the idea, she laid it out in the family room and spent multiple hours working on it,” her mom, Lindsay Okray, told the outlet.
In the end, Paige managed to come up with a plastic curtain that, when fitted inside a doorway, lets people on either side hug each other.
The clever curtain has four arm “sleeves,” two on both sides, that prevent skin-to-skin contact while still allowing for super tight, loving embraces.
Of course, Paige needed to test her prototype, so she set off to to her beloved grandparents’ home to take it for a spin.
Lindsay was there to film the heartwarming moment Paige’s grandparents got to embrace their granddaughter again.
Upon opening their front door, the little girl’s “nana” and “papa” were visibly delighted to find their doorway had been covered with a plastic sheet as an eagerly awaiting Paige explained, “You get to hug me!”
Both grandparents took a turn putting their arms through the sleeves to give Paige a big hug.
Lindsay uploaded the video of the touching encounter to Facebook where it has since been viewed over 12,000 times.
“Paige saw a video of someone who made this type of ‘blanket’ to hug their family,” she explained in the caption. “She put together a list and she designed it so she could hug nana and papa. This girl is so freaking amazing, and we were so happy to be able to hug them!”
In the comments, people are expressing their joy at seeing little Paige be able to finally and safely hug her grandparents again despite the ongoing lockdown.
“Seriously not going to lie, it made me cry a little,” one user wrote, while another added, “This is absolutely the best thing I’ve seen in awhile!”
Some grandparents also shared that they wish they could develop a similar curtain in order to embrace their own grandchildren, too.
“I love this idea and made me cry because I want to hug my grandsons and daughter so so bad,” one person admitted. “This gives me hope!”
