Coronavirus: Carly Boyd broke news of her engagement to her grandfather through a window.
To contain the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus, thousands of nursing homes and assisted-living facilities across the US have limited visitors and guests. So when nursing student Carly Boyd got engaged over the weekend, she found that there was one special person she could not share the news with - her grandfather.
Carly's grandfather, Shelton Mahala, 87, lives at Premier Living and Rehab Center in North Carolina and can't see guests until further notice due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"I really wanted to be able to tell my grandfather because he has dementia and there's no phone in there that he has access to," said Carly to KOLD. "I just really wanted to make an effort to tell him."
The 21-year-old managed to find a way to tell her grandfather of her engagement and show him her ring. She decided to reveal the news standing at his bedroom window.
"When I arrived at the nursing home ... I run around the building to get to his bedroom window and they pulled up his blinds," Carly said to ABC News. "I point to my ring and he realised I was engaged!"
Photos of the two meeting each other with a pane of glass between them have gone viral on social media and struck a chord with thousands.
Since being shared on Facebook by Premier Living and Rehab Center, the photos have collected more than 2 lakh reactions, over 1.7 lakh 'shares' and thousands of comments.
"I'm crying like a baby!! This is love even if it through glass she wanted him to know face to face not over a phone. Even though it's hard it's moments like this that are so precious!" wrote one person in the comments section.
"Thanks for sharing this moment of love. We all need bright spots like this right now," said another.
"It was very special," said Carly. "I just put my hand on the window, and he put his there too. I just told him I love him, and he said, 'I love you, too, and I hope to see you soon,' like really see you."
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