Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Hannah and Allie Balkwill didn’t expect to celebrate a couple of special occasions the way they did Saturday.
In fact, the Severn Township sisters didn’t expect the celebration at all.
Hannah recently graduated from Trent University and Allie will soon celebrate her 19th birthday. Their mother, Stephanie, wanted to make sure they received some kind of recognition, so she arranged for a drive-by celebration that included her daughters’ friends and family.
“Honestly, it’s a shock. It’s amazing,” Allie said. “It’s been three months since I’ve seen everyone.”
She will turn 19 on June 26, and she had planned on “going clubbing with some friends.”
“That got thrown out the window,” she said.
Instead, she “might try to get some patio drinks.”
Hannah, 21, officially graduated June 12 with a degree in psychology. She wasn’t upset that she didn’t have the formal ceremony with cap and gown, but she was looking forward to celebrating with friends. Fortunately for her, some of her friends from university made the trip from as far away as Peterborough to see Hannah on Saturday.
“It’s nice that we’re able to see each other, even if we can’t get very close,” she said.
Jess Morgan was happy to make the drive to see her friend.
“It’s not a good time to have a graduation or a birthday, so we wanted to make sure it was as special as possible for Hannah and for Allie as well,” Morgan said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen them.”
“Hannah’s one of our best pals,” added Abbi Rhodes. “We wanted to show her we love her. We’ll always make the drive.”
