Photography by Lauren Sullivan
A Belated B-Day Celebration
During the pandemic, JoAnn Weismiller spent the months leading up to her 90th birthday sewing hundreds of face masks. For her milestone birthday in May 2020, the longtime St. Louisan, who now lives in Bloomington, Indiana, wasn’t able to celebrate with family. So in May of this year, Weismiller traveled to St. Louis to reunite with her entire family: active military and college students who arranged to be there, all 11 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren, including two who were born during the pandemic and met Weismiller (whom they call “Bema”) for the first time. They celebrated the occasion in a very St. Louis way: by eating gooey butter cake from Missouri Baking Company.
New Beginnings
March 23, 2020, was the first day of lockdown in St. Louis and the day that David Want was born. The newborn had a complex heart defect, requiring nine hospitalizations and five surgeries over the next five months. Through that time, his grandparents, Cindy (nicknamed “Oma”) and Keith Lueck, did what they could to support his mother, Mandie, father, Nathan, and 20-month-old brother, Samuel, by providing meals and emotional support from the other side of the front door. In October, David was finally stable, thriving, and able to meet his grandparents outside while they were masked.
A Long Overdue Trip
“They walk in, and we leave,” is how Jamie Oswald describes his and wife Becca’s modus operandi when his parents come to visit from Canton, Ohio. Grandma Georgia and grandpa Dan Oswald love one-on-one time with the grandkids and were on their first night of what was supposed to be a two-week visit. Jamie and Becca were headed to Australia in March 2020 when their flight was canceled in L.A., just as Australia locked down its borders. The grandparents returned to Ohio—and the next visit wasn’t until April 2021, when they, after vaccination, drove from Ohio to spend time with 15-year-old Lucas, 13-year-old Cooper, and 11-year-old Hallie. This time, Jamie and Becca stayed closer to home; they went for a weekend getaway just an hour away.
Coming Together
When Lindsey Brown, her husband, Greg, and sons Miles, 8, and Hayden, 5, said goodbye to Lindsey’s parents in December 2019, they never imagined it would be another 19 months before they would see them again. Finally, after receiving vaccinations, grandparents Jeanne and Jeff Offo were able to fly out of New York in early July for a visit. “We went to Grant’s Farm, played minigolf, and just enjoyed seeing each other after so long,” says Lindsey.
