Zooming with Boomers

There’s something comforting about seeing people I’ve known my entire life, while facing a situation none of us have ever experienced before.

A week and a half into social distancing, I receive a text message from my dad informing me that "the Catskills group" will be having a "Zoom session" that evening including “the kids,” and he’d like me to join. These people that we dub "the Catskills group" have known each other since the founding members, including my dad, were busboys turned waiters in the Catskill Mountains of New York over the summers when they were in college. I’ve known them my whole life, though it’s been some time since I’ve seen most of them. When I log on to look at the invite, it’s clear that "the kids," the youngest of whom are juniors in college, weren’t always invited because the email is aimed towards a mature audience of Grateful Dead fans. Also, apparently, this "Zoom session" was conceived to celebrate one of their birthdays. Even so, I join the call and slowly people trickle in from across the east coast and California. Everyone greets each other enthusiastically and there is talk about whether there’s a time limit for the call. The birthday boy’s sons teach him how to turn on his video and audio live while the rest of us watch. For the majority of the call, you can only see the top of one man’s balding head because, apparently, he doesn’t know how to aim the webcam. One of the couples goes with a silhouette aesthetic.

"With about 25 people, the event is something like organized chaos. But even though everyone is physically distant, some of the conversations sound just like they would if the group were together in person."

The "adults" ask "kids" who aren’t related to them what they’re up to, and after about five questions another adult teases them about giving the third degree. People show off their pets and photos of their daughter’s new pet. They ask about each other’s elderly parents and adult children. One woman tells a story of her mom meeting up with friends at a park, standing six feet apart. But, since they’re all senior citizens, they can’t hear each other well and end up just screaming at each other. Another woman shares that she’s spending her time scanning old photos. Some report sadly that they’ve had to close their offices, while others report having more work than ever. With this crowd it seems inevitable that everyone shows off whatever wine they’re drinking, and they toast the birthday boy. There’s something comforting about seeing people I’ve known my entire life, while facing a situation none of us have ever experienced before. There’s so much love shared on this call between these people, it’s truly heartwarming. And then at the forty-minute mark the call ends. I guess there was a time limit after all.