In a time when our stay-at-home minds are flooded with COVID-19 news, it's easy to miss the many glimmers of hope just outside our doors — and, sometimes, inside them.
Across the Twin Cities, families and friends are finding creative ways to keep the party going.
There's the family of Francisco Rosales, who helped him celebrate his 74th birthday with balloons, tunes and a whimsical dinosaur. There's cancer-free 17-year-old Gabby Hoefs, who was doused with silly string after a surprise birthday gathering. When the athletic banquet to honor him was canceled, team members sporting smiles and shimmering pom-poms paraded past the home of beloved Cretin-Derham Hall volunteer wrestling coach Walt Wietzke.
As Rosales' family serenaded him from the deck, he danced with his wife, Ramona. Coach Wietzke greeted well-wishers from his door with his delighted wife, Raija. (See the photos in the gallery above.)
These sweet moments of love, kindness and hope call to mind a quote from author Gabriel García Márquez in his "Love in the Time of Cholera":
"Courage did not come from the need to survive, or from a brute indifference inherited from someone else, but from a driving need for love which no obstacle in this world or the next world will break."
![Tizoc and Avenna Rosales, right, and their children, celebrated a birthday for his father Francisco Rosales, who turned 74, Saturday, April 11, 2020 in St. Paul, MN. Francisco Rosales, who has a weakened immune system, was given three birthday parties on his deck from his three children and their families, which include 14 grandchildren. "Had it not been for COVID-19, this yard would be full of people hitting a piñata, dancing, and grilling out," said Ramona Rosales. ] ELIZABETH FLORES ](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/7BUYFGR5NEVOB3YO6FGK5ENSYM.jpg?&w=1080)
