Haddonfield resident Abby McMackin, mother of 10-year-old Jude, came up with a fantastic way to organize a celebration of her son’s birthday while keeping in line with social restrictions in place due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The day after Easter, the McMackins, along with Jude’s fellow fourth-grade classmates at Elizabeth Haddon Elementary School, his babysitter, his teacher and dozens of others came together to celebrate the milestone with a birthday caravan.
“I was moved that so many people took the time to make his birthday special in these difficult times,” noted Abby.
McMackin said that, even before coronavirus caused widespread social and travel restrictions, the family had something special in mind for this double-digit celebration.
“We were originally going to have a party at Big League Dreams in Medford, where he’d be playing wiffle ball with a bunch of his friends. And then he was going to have a sleep-over later in the month with some more of his friends. He was really looking forward to that as well,” McMackin explained.
Although these caravans of caring have been occurring for a variety of reasons across the country for several weeks now, the McMackins really wanted this one to happen no matter what — even in the face of weather reports warning of winds gusting upwards of 60 mph and lashing rains.
“Last year, our plans for celebrating his birthday were also ruined,” she said. “Because just before he turned nine, he broke his ankle and he wasn’t so happy about that either.”
As it may be for many students in the school district now consigned to school, sociability and exercise in a confined space, cabin fever has certainly struck Jude, as the area heads into its fifth and sixth weeks of quarantine.
“He is struggling. He loves to play outside,” McMackin said.
“We have a trampoline outside in our backyard, he has a scooter, and he plays baseball in the spring. He is clearly not happy. In our house, he’s probably having the worst time. I have an older daughter, and she’s a little more roll-with-the-punches with this whole thing.”
A family friend of the McMackins came up with the idea to have a caravan, during a back-and-forth group text with Abby and several others, where they were trying to decide how to appropriately mark the occasion.
Jude isn’t a big fan of conferring with his peers online, and so that friend texted McMackin separately and suggested the caravan would be the way to go.
“I thought it was a great idea and so I wanted to organize it. I was amazed, because I’m his mother and I didn’t even think of that,” she said. “I think everyone’s going to show up, because what does everyone else have to do? It’s going to be a great little surprise.”
And show up, they did: a steady stream of vehicles cruised along West Euclid Avenue, beeping their horns, whooping it up, showing signs of support and stopping briefly as the weather shifted from light rain, to torrential downpours, to slivers of sunlight peeking through the clouds.
McMackin also said she conferred with another friend of hers over a series of texts the previous week to have a sign placed on their front lawn, similar to the ones which welcomed students back to school in September.
However, due to the wickedness of Mother Nature, the sign — which would have consisted of individual letters placed close together to spell out a message — wouldn’t have been able to withstand the downpour. Instead, a larger and more conspicuous wooden sign, spelling out “Jude is 10!” was affixed to the family’s lawn right next to their driveway.
“I was surprised and happy that so many of my friends came out to wish me a happy birthday,” said Jude.
