Lafayette Has Found A Love For ‘Drive-By’ Birthday Parties During The COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 has been quite the double-edged sword.

Undoubtedly, the sharpest edge of the global pandemic has claimed lives while simultaneously dealing an unapologetic blow to our economy and overall way of life. But the other edge of that sword has been an incredible showing of resilience, creativity, and overall humanity.

One of the best examples of all three would be these socially distant "drive-by birthday parties" that I've seen on social media over the last few weeks. This past weekend I watched as my friends Amy and Lance LeBlanc surprised their son Locke with a socially distant parade for his 8th birthday.

I've seen these done before, but this one caught my eye.

From a police escort to a live "band"—Locke got quite the birthday surprise. When I asked Amy how it all came together, I found out there was so much more to the story.

With our car accident last spring around this time, we didn’t get to have the big celebration we wanted for his bday last year, so we planned a cruise for spring break this year to celebrate and make up for that! Well naturally that didn’t happen, so we were determined to make his day special despite the circumstances. It was so overwhelming to see all of our friends and family show up to celebrate—even Locke’s kindergarten teacher came! The police escort took it over the top and my brother’s family with the drum set was the icing on the cake!

When I asked her if Locke was surprised, she told me that he had NO idea and thought the police sirens were to "enforce the curfew."

If you've seen these parades in your neighborhood or in your news feeds please drop me a note so I can check them out. Who knows when we'll get back to normal or what "normal" will actually look like, but in the meantime, I'm digging the love and humanity.

Let's keep it up, humans. And Happy Birthday, Locke!