As Covid-19 forces people to stay apart, for the time being, a Prince George music student found a creative way to spend time with her extended family.
19-year old Brenna Jacobson performed a mini-concert for her grandparents in front of their condo in College Heights.
“It was the strangest thing! It will definitely be something I tell my kids about,” said Jacobson.
“It’s probably going to be the [performance] I remember most even though it was for the least amount of people, just because of how much it meant.”
Jacobson’s grandparents, like other seniors during the pandemic, are unable to go out and take part in a lot of their regular activities.
“They have just been having a really hard time having to be stuck inside because they are a part of that vulnerable group of people,” The Duchess Park grad explained.
“So they asked me one day if I would go out and sing a song for them, and I thought ‘Well, I’ll sing five instead!’
What started off as a small performance, ‘brought out the neighbours too’ says Brenna’s grandmother, Fran Buryn.
“She came over, we had to sit on the deck, and she stood on the driveway across from us and sang for us and it brought out people from the different decks to listen to her,” explained Buryn.
“I wanted to go give her a big hug, but I couldn’t. It was emotional, to not be able to get closer to her, but it was such a blessing to have her come and sing like that.”
The past few weeks have been hard on her and her family, admits Jacobson, who wants people feeling similarly to know they are not alone.
“The hardest thing is having to go so long without being able to touch them or hug them, but still find ways to show that you’re there for them.”
Jacobson started voice lessons seven years ago and is now an opera singer in training at the University of Manitoba.
She is currently back home in Prince George until classes return to normal.
“It’s not like any other performance I’ve done or any I probably will do. You have to be so far away from these people but still connect with them on that personal level that you do when you perform.”
“It made me so happy that it made other people happy.”
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