Day 38: It’s a Wednesday. Just like last Wednesday, and just like next Wednesday. The days started running together a long time ago, and while the days can be long, it seems amazing we’re already in week seven of our quarantine.

Last week my grandmother celebrated her 97th birthday. She’s seen a lot in 97 years, but nothing like this. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have access to the internet and does not have a smartphone, so on her birthday, I just had to keep calling until I got a hold of her. But that was okay: I had little else to do. And she was receiving lots of phone calls!

My parents, my aunt, and my uncle, drove over to her apartment and stood outside to sing Happy Birthday to her. They are not allowed inside her retirement complex, which - thankfully - has not been exposed (as of now, and as far as we know) to COVID-19. Precautions work! She also said it was the strangest birthday she’s had in 97 years!

And she’s seen a lot! As a young woman, she decided to help out with the war effort. The World War Two war effort. She was given an IQ test to determine what she was qualified to do, and “aerial gunnery instructor” returned as one of her options. Not a traditional role for women, but my grandmother is not a traditional woman. She took the job and helped teach sailors how to shoot guns out of planes. How cool is that?

Four years ago, my grandmother was accompanied by my Aunt on an Honor Flight to visit the WW2 Memorial in DC. My boys and I greeted them at the airport, and spent the next day running around DC from Monument to Memorial, listening to stories from our Greatest Generation. (And yes, we ran. Because while the veterans were shuttled from place to place on their bus, parking a car is not an easy feat in DC. So we parked once, and ran from Monument to Memorial.) It is a day we will never forget.

And we need to never forget our grandparents and parents now. They are alone more than normal. They are lonely more than usual. And while I was thrilled my grandmother’s phone rang off the hook on her birthday, it needs to keep ringing.

Pick up the phone and give someone a call who lives alone. You might be the only person they talk to today.