Jewells of Thought

March 20, 2020 is a date I will not easily forget. Not very long ago was the third annual marking of our loss. Early that morning our Rosemary died, without any of her family with her. All thanks to the Covid restrictions put into place only about a week prior.

This afternoon all of it came back to mind when I listened to a snippet of a you-tube video of Janice Dean. Until three years ago I didn’t know who she was, besides being a fighter with a righteous arrow, a meteorologist with Fox News. Our situations were different, granted, but I related with her family story. Her in-laws were among those patients killed by the stuffing of nursing homes with known sick in New York.

I honestly don’t even remember when I first started hearing about her story. Or that Governor Cuomo, instead of being a leader that bespoke his actual title with graciousness, went after her character and credibility. No family of any patient at those nursing homes could have felt at ease with his behavior simply at her wanting accountability and not getting it.

I like the term curator and annually there are dates that remind me of people and different times in my life. Some of the first dates that would come to mind were D-Day and Pearl Harbor. They are still stuck in my head I may not have been alive, but those dates have ricocheted into my life because of my grandfathers. March 20, 2020 is one of those days in my memory.

Over the next few days I will share more of this story as it enfolded for me. Loss is difficult and everyone deals with it in their own way. I need to write things out and share how intricately God gives such grace and mercy to each unique story.

A jewel is a rare gem, an ornament, one who is highly esteemed. Each of my grandparents mean that to me in their own way.