Llaydiyln lives and learns long distance
By: Lydia Gessner
Tags: Distance Learning, Friends, Family, Fifth Grade, Staying Connected

Llaydiyln gives a thumbs up to her teacher Elizabeth Earnest during a recent Google Meet with her fifth-grade class at Maxfield Elementary. Llaydiyln misses seeing her friends’ faces in person, but she also said she understands they have to be safe. | Submitted photo

Llaydiyln lives and learns long distance

How one Maxfield Elementary School scholar remembers the good times while learning virtually and staying connected with her friends and family, not just a screen away, but states away. Lydia Gessner Follow Dec 18, 2020 · 4 min read

By Lydia Gessner | Author and Speaker

Llaydiyln’s eyes are glued to the screen. On the other side, and a world away back in Minnesota, her sister moves the camera to show Llaydiyln’s nephew, who danced and laughed, showing how much he missed them. Since moving to another state, Llaydiyln hasn’t been able to see as much of Carter, who she used to babysit back in Minnesota.

“What I am good at is taking care of my nephew,” Llaydiyln said. She explained that she was the first kid to see him after he was born.

The fifth-grader at Maxfield Elementary reflected on all the fun times they had back in Minnesota, including when she, her little cousin and her best friend, used to babysit him together.

One of their favorite games to play with him was “peek-a-boo.”

“We would play peek-a-boo. … we would pop up and be like ‘boo’ and he would laugh. His laugh is so cute, I miss it so much!” said Llaydiyln, who explained another game they would play with him was trying to talk to him in his own little language.

Then there was the time, before he had even turned one, that Carter beat her at her own game.

“I had two controllers and I was trying to play with my cousin, but then he grabbed one controller and he literally picked his character and he fought against me,” Llaydiyln said. “And you know what he did? He won. Cause … he was pressing everything.”

Llaydiyln loves playing video games and they are one way she has been able to connect with her friends, even from far away. She and her friends have PS4s, so they play together and talk. There’s even an option that allows them to text back and forth. Some of Llaydiyln’s favorite video games to play are anime games.

“She loves anime and is also a great writer! She is unique and wonderful!” said Elizabeth Earnest, Llaydiyln’s fifth-grade teacher at Maxfield Elementary, of Llaydiyln.

Video games are also ways that Llaydiyln connected with her family and friends when she lived in Minnesota. She loved to play with her little cousin and her best friend, though Llaydiyln said she had to teach her friend how to play like her older cousin taught her.

This is the same older cousin who used to take the girls to McDonalds down from where they lived in Minnesota. Sometimes he would take Llaydiyln’s bike to go pick up their food, other days, they could be found riding that bike around the neighborhood.

“We had some good memories.” –Llaydiyln, fifth-grader.

“I had a bike, but there was only one, so we all had to take turns. Like there would be a limit of time that we could go on the bike, so like we would go around 10 times and then it would be the other persons’ turn and they would go around 10 times …,” Llaydiyln said.

And that’s not all they would do for fun. Llaydiyln remembers having sleepovers with her cousin and friend in the living room on a pallet, and talking, having fun and playing house. Sometimes they would even play Barbies.

“We had some good memories,” Llaydiyln said.

Now she is making new memories in a new state with her family, while still holding onto the ones from Minnesota, and connecting with friends, family and her school from her old state through technology.

Though she misses seeing her friends’ faces in person at school, she said she understands they have to stay safe. Distance doesn’t stop Llaydiyln’s personality from shining through the screen.

“Llaydiyln is a hilarious student,” Earnest said. “She has a natural humorous personality. She is a loyal friend to others and she’s not afraid to be who she wants to be.”

So for now, states away and screens apart, virtually will have to do, especially for being a great aunt to her nephew Carter.

“(My sister) gave him the phone and he was running with it … he was holding the phone and it was so close to his face …,” said Llaydiyln of their most recent video call. “… he’s just so little and I just want to hug him, cause he’s so cute and I miss him so much.”