Ten-year-old Paige Okray from Riverside, California, has followed all the social distancing rules during the coronavirus outbreak. But it isn’t easy for anyone, much less a young girl, to go without hugs from friends and loved ones.
Okray hadn’t seen her grandparents in a while and when she saw a video of a person who made a blanket as a protective barrier to allow hugs from others, this creative young lady decided she had to make something of her own to allow her to visit and hug her grandparents.
That’s when she came up with the idea for the “hug curtain.” Her design for the curtain, like most well-engineered projects, is rather simple. Okray used a plastic shower curtain, a hot glue gun, Ziploc bags and disposable plates.
“She came up with the idea,” Paige’s mom, Lindsay Okray, who works as a nurse in the COVID-19 unit at a local hospital, told ABC7NY. “She laid it out in the family room and spent multiple hours working on it.”
The concept is pretty simple, but effective. There are two sets of armholes in the curtain. The first set is set up higher so an adult can reach in and have his or her arms surrounded by plastic. The lower set is for a granddaughter who can’t wait to get her arms around her loved ones.
After constructing the hug curtain, Paige took her invention over to her grandparents’ house and set it up on their front door. Finally, grandchild and grandparents had a happy reunion, which Lindsay shared on social media.
The young engineer not only created and assembled the “hug curtain,” but she also made sure it was wiped down with Lysol wipes to offer the most protection possible for her beloved grandparents.
Both “Nana and Papa” were so impressed with their granddaughter’s ingenuity. When Nana opened the door, Paige exclaimed, “You get to hug me!”
Watch the video below and prepare to feel like you’re getting a virtual hug from this amazing young lady!
This video makes us cry happy tears. What do you think of the hug curtain?
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories.
