LINDON, Utah – A Utah family made a surprise visit to their grandmother, with a caravan-style approach, to spread some love while maintaining social distancing.
“What are you filming?” 75-year-old Shirley can be heard asking in a video as she stood outside her Lindon home.
“This lovely family of yours!” responded the person behind the camera.
For Grandma Shirley, what happened next was the surprise of a lifetime.
“Hi grandma!” Little voices can be heard shouting.
“What is this!?” Shirley shouts.
One by one, a row of cars drove past Shirley’s front yard. The cars were filled with her family – including her kids, the majority of her 34 grandchildren and 11 great-grandkids.
“She just kind of waved at first and then she realized what was happening and she just started to lose it, she was so excited it made her day,” said her daughter, Rachel Garcia. “The neighbors were outside and they were clapping and cheering because they were so happy watching her.”
Rachel said the idea came from her sister Lindsey. She had sent out a group chat telling everyone the plan to meet at 3 o’clock on Sunday afternoon and do a "drive-by visit" with grandma.
"She will LOVE that we took time out of our… wait… none of us have schedules! Haha so ya this should work for EVERYONE! See you in the cul-de-sac tomorrow at 3," the text message read.
“[Shirley’s] super involved with the family,” Rachel said. “So, not seeing the grandkids is really hard on her.”
The drive-by visit may have been a simple gesture, but it brought a lot of smiles during a difficult, socially distant time.
“It totally boosted everyone that day with joy and happiness, emotions were like just out the roof with everybody,” said Rachel.
The family said so long as people are asked to socially distance and stay home, they’ll keep doing drive-by visits until they can visit in person again.
“Our grandma’s a huge key to our family and she keeps us together,” said Shirley’s grandson, Tyler. “If we didn’t do more drive-by’s, we would definitely be missing a piece in our family.”
But, just in case – they left one last surprise for Grandma Shirley.
“Grandma, I’m pregnant!” one of Shirley’s granddaughters shouted from her car.
“Oh my gosh!” Shirley screamed.
This story was originally published by Elle Thomas at KSTU.
