The Stapleton Swingers group has been hit especially hard by the Covid “stay at home” policy. “It’s been really challenging for our group,” said Amy Ford. “Obviously, all of our in-person events have been canceled. I mean, you have to be responsible during these times. You don’t want someone catching a deadly disease, right?” As the lead of the group, Amy says they have made sure to keep in contact. “We still keep items on the calendar and email each other. We know we will eventually come out of this thing and when we do, we want to be able to hit the ground running, so to speak.”
The group has attempted to create some form of normalcy for its members. “We have created some mini-zoom meetings where our members can interact,” said Amy. “The meetings have been well-intended, however the satisfaction of our people hasn’t been as great.” Amy says members have been patient but acknowledge the meetings are a fry cry from what the participants are used to. “I guess the biggest difference is that we normally get to touch our partners,” said Stapleton swinger Randy Mayer. “I mean, we have tried to keep things ‘normal’, but in person sex is just way better than Zoom sex.” Fellow swinger Meg Moellering agrees. “Zoom is good for a lot of things,” acknowledges Moellering. “It has worked well for me to get in touch with family and friends and has been a big help for my company. But, in this particular circumstance, it’s really not that helpful.”
Amy is hoping the state’s relaxed social distancing regulations will help get the group going again soon. “Ultimately, we are about rules and safety,” said Amy. “We are hoping to get back together as soon as we can, but within federal and state guidelines. We don’t know what the next few months will look like.” Amy says that many times members wear masks anyway, but they may make masks required. “That shouldn’t be a big issue, as we were considering making masks mandatory long before Covid,” said Amy. “We will be taking some other sanitary precautions as well, but have not finalized those decisions.” Hopefully, one of Stapleton’s oldest institutions will be back to swinging soon.