Then Covid…
“Adversity introduces us to ourselves.”
I come from a large Hispanic family. We are close, enmeshed really. Our group texts read like you’re watching a Mexican Novela filled with gasps, lots of “lol”ing and an occasional…ok, a lot of curse words. As sisters we have free reign to reign in each other’s kids. The nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews all blend together as though we are all simply one gigantic and eclectic herd of elephants with one matriarch and one patriarch. Then COVID…
We all have our then COVID stories, don’t we? The disease that launched itself and blew up like an atomic bomb forcing us all to snap to attention with uniforms required in the shape of masks to cover our smiles. Yes, Covid, we hear you speaking. Suddenly, we were in lines at the grocery store facing food shortages, toilet paper envy and buying cleaning products by the droves.
The most startling was the fear, fear of contracting a disease we knew very little about. A disease that seemed to cut lines through communities worse than a F5 twister in Texas. A disease that does not have discriminating taste, rather it possesses a ferocious appetite to flex it’s strength and make even the largest metropolis cripple under the weight of it’s force.
Then it got personal. First, my sister and I contracted it. In all honesty, it felt like a bad sinus infection. I was still able to run and workout, I didn’t experience the known “loss of sense of smell or taste” and for that I’m completely grateful. Suddenly, Covid ran rampant through our entire family including my parents who are nearly 90 years old.
Watching the news unpack the daily reports felt like we were experiencing a real life apocalyptic movie. New York became a ghost town of skyscraper shells. The financial district, a symbol of an untouchable and great country, stood now a barren wasteland. And Central Park, once a place of community, runners and musicians was now a make-shift morgue with the body count going up daily.
The world we had all created and learned to live in was now a wicked remake of the Wizard of Oz except in reverse. There was no Emerald City or yellow brick road. We didn’t have a good witch to guide us on our journey. We were all on a tram moving backwards through memories of a life where we…
