One father and his 23-year old daughter set out to cover every inch of sidewalk in their hometown of Roselle, and both wound up learning much more in the process.

Joe and Ahley Skrec's ritual started in the spring, when many residents were struck with cabin fever at the height of the coronavirus lockdown.

"In late March, early April, we started walking. We said, 'why don't we go for a walk?' and that's something that, unfortunately, I just haven't had time to do or haven't made time for. And that's kind of how it started, and one day turned into 'why don't we try this again? and what time do we walk tomorrow?," Joseph Skrec explains.

In July, they came up with a goal of to walk every street in their town.

"The whole key to the operation was Ashley keeping track of where exactly we walked, and she became the coach, and she became the leader. and I had to become the follower, I had to become the player, I had to become the listener," Joseph Skrec says.

In a few weeks, it was "mission accomplished."

"I had a great player on my team who was always came prepared and ready to go for the day," Ashley Skrec says.

It took 18 days of walking. Roselle's a small town and maybe the feat itself pales in comparison to the real prize of just slowing down and getting to know their town and each other a little better.

"It was, like I said, a great bonding experience and we left our technology home. And even if I bring my phone, I'm not on it. We're talking the whole entire time, catching up, talking about whatever's on our mind that day. So, it was really great," Ashley Skrec says.

Amid the suffering, the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown has had its positive aspects for some. More time with family or time for a new hobby. Or just the kind of father-daughter time too many dads look back on in the end and realize they missed out on.

"I haven't always been able to, whether it's working nights or whether its putting in a lot of time with my job and my different roles at school. I sometimes haven't spent as much time with my family or my children as I would have liked. And certainly, this was a chance maybe to make up for that time," Joseph Skrec says.

And so, a pandemic that robbed so many of life's most precious moments, in some cases, at least, made room for them.

Joseph Skrec is an assistant principal at Roselle Catholic High School while Ashley is a grad student at Kean University. As their schedules get busy once again, they say they do hope to continue their walks as often as possible.