Every time Jo Viggiano drove past the little white gazebo in River Plantation, she thought it looked just as lonely as she was.
Viggiano, 82, a resident of River Plantation missed her friends and they missed her. Pre-pandemic they all had busy schedules of bingo, bunco, birthday lunches, time at the city’s Senior Center, going on outings with the Harris County Precinct 4 Seniors Group, traveling and more.
“Before this all happened we had things to do everyday Monday through Friday,” said Glenda Thames.
But all of their activities were halted when the pandemic began.
“When you’ve been running around with somewhere to go and something to do everyday and then it all comes to a halt it’s difficult,” Viggiano said.
So she decided to do something about it. Starting earlier in the summer, she invited friends Mary Ann Innes, Mary Gallo, Glenda Thames, Mardell Lawhead and Mary Beth Lozano to join her for lunch at the River Plantation gazebo once a week.
They all bring their own lunch and keep socially distanced as they visit over a variety of topics from health concerns to family news to whatever offbeat thing they can think of. The comings and goings of those entering and exiting River Plantation keeps them entertained.
Mary Gallo said they look forward to their visit every week.
Most of them are widowed and this fellowship serves as their face-to-face interaction for the week.
“We’re lost without our activities,” Thames said. Other friends in their senior groups are doing the same, meeting in small groups to keep connected.
They have know each other for years meeting through groups for widows and widowers at two local churches.
Several ladies come from The Woodlands and Spring for the weekly visits.
They may not have their bunco, bingo and birthdays yet, but what they do have is friendship and each other. They look forward to continuing to meet under the gazebo as long as they can.
“For now, until our regular groups return, this is good,” Viggiano said.
And feel free to wave or honk when heading in or out of River Plantation between noon and 1 on Mondays.
