LIFE’S MILESTONES ADAPT TO VIRUS
A drive-by birthday party, a prom dress rooftop photo and a cardboard cutout of the father of the bride are some of the ways the special moments in life stay the same, but different.
You couldn’t wipe the smile off John Hensley’s face as he accompanied his daughter down the aisle of her wedding last weekend if you tried.
Chalk it up to unbridled pride or the fact that he was a cardboard cutout.
Erin Hensley cradled her replica father as she made her way down the dock of a pond on her Bennett property, careful to keep the full skirt of her wedding dress from getting caught under cardboard feet.
She laid her 2-D dad down and stood before groom Dustin Smith, a small gathering of Smith’s family and nearly 40 guests watching from their homes via videoconferencing platform Zoom.
The event wasn’t what the couple envisioned for their big day, but, like so many in Colorado and across the world, the fast-spreading new coronavirus thwarted their plans as governments called on residents to shelter in place to ease the transmission of the respiratory illness.
A pandemic has disrupted most aspects of life in the spring of 2020, but it didn’t chill the warm glow of two hearts about to form a sacred union. It can’t suppress the compliments a new prom dress deserves. It won’t quell the triumph in another trip around the sun.
The coronavirus has turned life upside down, but Coloradans have found alternative ways to celebrate in the here and now.
Birthday girl
Susie Montoya’s life is bracketed by pandemics.
Born in 1918 as the Spanish flu ravaged the country, Montoya celebrated her 102nd birthday late last month in quarantine to avoid exposure to COVID-19.
Montoya watched from an upstairs window of her blue, twostory Arvada home as a party took place — with proper distancing — in her driveway and on the street. She wore a crown and a button that read “Birthday Girl” and waved and blew kisses from above to the four generations of Montoyas below holding handmade posters and balloons.
Arvada police officers and firefighters joined the family in serenading Montoya with the “Happy Birthday” song from the street. A firetruck parked in front of the
house flashed emergency lights, adding to the festivities.
The Arvada mayor and City Council proclaimed it Susie Montoya Day, citing her long life, the value of senior citizens in the community and the inspiration she gives to family and friends.
Montoya raised three sons and three daughters and cleaned houses, granddaughter Michelle Martinez said.
“We get with her every year, and this year’s kind of hard not to be able to hug her and kiss her,” great-great granddaughter Christina Martinez said. “We wanted to do something fun so she could at least see us, let her know we’re here.”
Afterward, granddaughter Gina Leyba called Montoya. The phone call was challenging because of her grandmother’s hearing loss, but Leyba said, “She loved all the attention. Loved seeing everyone. But missed kissing us.”
“Still possible to find life’s little joys”
Montoya had almost 100 years on 3-year-old Maxwell Freed, but the two Colorado residents shared a March 27 birthday.
Twins Maxwell and Riley were supposed to have a raucous toddler bash with 50 friends, a music class, piñata and a visit from beloved cartoon character Peppa Pig.
Mom Amber Freed wanted this birthday to be extra special. Maxwell has a rare neurological condition, SLC6A1, that gets worse after the age of 3.
“Just knowing that this could be his last semi-healthy birthday, we’ve decided to do everything possible to make this the absolute best birthday we can,” Amber Freed said.
As the parent of a child with a rare disease, Freed was accustomed to being thrown curveballs. The pandemic closed the door on the music studio party, so she opened up her Denver front lawn to passers-by last weekend.
The Freeds chalked up the sidewalks of their University Park neighborhood, inviting friends and strangers to drive by and honk for Maxwell and Riley.
The Freed family stood among blow-up lawn decorations — a Halloween dragon, a Thanksgiving turkey, Frosty the snowman, a dinosaur, a rainbow — delighting in the friends, neighbors and newcomers who came to celebrate at a distance.
Dad Mark Freed danced around in a Peter Rabbit costume. Cars filled with kids lined the block, rolling down the street with homemade signs celebrating the birthday boy and girl thrust out the windows. Maxwell and Riley, in matching overalls, watched their parade from the sidewalk. Amber Freed handed out cupcakes and beers to willing visitors with the help of a selfie stick for distancing.
“I think at some point you let go of what you thought should happen and live in what is happening,” she said. “That means that life is never perfect, but it is still possible to find life’s little joys.”
Rooftop prom
Small joys like the flaunting of a new prom dress from Dillard’s.
Bri Smith loved the way the freckles on her shoulder popped against the deep blue of the dress. The back of the dress was longer, and the front was shorter. One of her shoulders was bare, and the other arm was draped in a dark blue lace.
“I just loved it,” the 18-year-old said. “I loved the way it looks, and I loved the way I looked in it. It’s flowy and fun, and I figured it’s my last year of school. Let’s go all out.”
When the student at Lakewood’s Bear Creek High School realized her senior prom was canceled, she didn’t want the dress to go to waste.
So she took to the roof. One of Smith’s remote learning assignments for her photography class required her to edit a picture in a way that gave the illusion of levitation.
She threw on her prom dress, handed her mom the camera and headed out onto their Jefferson County rooftop. The teenager posed with her arms raised out to each side like she was commanding power from within.
“I thought it looked kind of witchy and cool,” Smith said.
The senior edited the picture to look like she and her dress were floating above her home.
“Maybe I didn’t get to wear it to prom and not everyone at school got to see me in it,” she said. “But I did get to wear it. I did get to see myself in it. And I did get to post the picture. The prom dress was seen.”
“Back to the basics”
So, too, was Erin Hensley’s wedding dress.
Thanks to Denver-based online wedding planning platform Wedfuly, Hensley was able to broadcast her “I do’s” across the country. She got creative with the rest.
When a statewide stay-at-home order prevented Hensley’s hair stylist and makeup artist from coming, her niece stepped in instead. When the virus prevented the caterer from serving the small gathering of family on Hensley’s property, the hunting-loving couple pulled out some elk and deer meat they had stashed in freezers and got to grilling.
Wedfuly is helping couples share their nuptials on Zoom free of charge. The service’s staff makes sure online guests remain muted when appropriate and unmuted when it’s time to cheer.
Caroline Creidenberg, Wedfuly’s CEO, was busy the past few weeks issuing coronavirus-related refunds and rescheduling event venues for her brides and grooms. Offering a free service in a time of need gave her a sense of control in an uncontrollable time — something positive she could do.
“We’re all facing a whole new set of challenges we have to figure out every day,” Creidenberg said. “Being able to do this made me so much happier. And you know what I realized? The couples were still happy, too. The reason people are getting married is they’re celebrating their love with someone. We’re really getting back to the basics of that.”