Non Touch Toast!

On Thursday at 7pm, an hour before the nation clapped for the National Health Service once again, my Aunt had arranged a 'Non Touch Toast.' Family and friends came together on WhatsApp to honour one another during these dark days. The news on the television has become a tide of despair, so spending a few moments each week to think of those closest has been a wonderful way to stay in touch and feel supported. Even though we can't see, hug or receive our nearest and dearest in public, we can at least stay close through the wonders of social media. We are fortunate to be living in an age, where all of us, no matter where we are in the World, can remain connected in a way we have never been able to before.

When I look across the internet, I am heartened to see so many of you, doing what you can to keep active and in touch with everyone at this time. Family is the linchpin that holds us all together, so it is only fitting we keep those bonds alive and flourishing, in good times and bad. Coronavirus may well be tearing through whole communities but neighbourhoods are holding strong and waiting for the day freedom once more returns.

Toasting family and friends is a small but important gesture, reinforcing our belief in the strength that loyalty and togetherness brings. We are the sum of our own experiences, but we are also the product of those we grew up with and others we choose to live alongside. There are many types of family, not always related through blood, but no less important and in many cases more significant and consequential, filling our lives with love, laughter and that all important sense of belonging. Raising a glass to our kindred spirits resonates with our need to feel secure, anchored and embraced at a time of stress and insecurity. Without these familiar faces, messages of love and words of encouragement, all of us would find the burden of Coronavirus too much to bear!