COVID 19

 Raise your hand if you are sick of this insidious virus? 

I think everyone is.  It has changed our lives in many ways.  The worst part for us is that we haven't seen our children and grandchildren for several months.  

Ken and I were recently talking.  In the first few months of the virus, we didn't know anyone who had had it.  That has sure changed.  We wrote a list and counted them up.  We now know over 134 people who have had or now have the virus.  Really.  We know them all personally.  And I'm pretty sure I have forgotten some. We know of others who are friends of our friends that have had the virus and even two that have had relatives die from it.  But we don't know them personally, so I didn't put them on the list.  The sad part is that five of these 134 that we do know have succumbed to the virus.  

Those who have died:

Pete Baum- our long-time neighbor across the street.  Our kids called him Grandpa Pete. He was a huge part of our lives when they lived here.  He felt like family.

Phil Andrus- our optometrist for many years.  A good man.  After he retired, he and his wife served a mission to Berlin, Germany the same time Patty and Hal did.

Glen Blakely- an art teacher at Dixie State and a fine man.  The Blakely's were in our ward years ago.

Delila Rodriguez.  Lived less than a block from us.  

Shirley Last- Ken's longtime friend from childhood's mother.

Many of those we know who are no longer contagious are reporting lingering side effects.  

There are two stories from this time that I just can't get out of my mind.  We have all read and heard many stories, but, for some reason, these two are very poignant for me:

The first story came early in the months of the virus.  I read it on the Internet.  I did not know the people.  The writer of the story was a single mother, a nurse.  She contracted the virus, and then her thirteen-year-old son did as well.  She was very ill.  She did not want to go to the hospital and leave her son.  Because she was a nurse she had an oximeter and frequently checked her oxygen levels.  She kept getting worse.  One day, her oxygen levels dipped and she told her son she needed to go the hospital.  She contacted two of her friends before she left, desperate for some help.  They promised they would watch over her son.  And they did.  They took turns bringing him food and leaving it on the doorstep for him.  They took turns sitting out on the driveway so that he would not feel alone and contacted him frequently by text.  They took shifts and did this round the clock.  Day and night they sat in a lawn chair so he wouldn't be alone.  I was so touched by the service of these women and friends.  The mom did recover and come home and all was well.  The story of love and vigilant service stays with me.

The other story I can't get out of my head is of a couple that we know quite well.  They are a bit younger than us, but also grandparents.  Her father died of COVID early on in the pandemic after a large family gathering.  She wasn't there, but many of her siblings contracted it at that time too, but recovered.  At Thanksgiving, all of this couple's (we'll call them John and Mary) family gathered for the holiday.  Afterward, nearly every member of their family/ their posterity got COVID.  Mary got sick first, then a couple of days later, John followed.  They were horribly, horribly ill.  So ill, in fact, that they were begging God to take them and release them from this misery.  I think that is why this story haunts me.  This happy, healthy couple got so very ill they were begging to die.  She said the aching was unbearable and the suffering intense.  They did recover and are doing fine now.  But it was excruciating for awhile.

We are so grateful to the Lord for helping those producing the vaccine and pray it will work. 

 We look forward to when the majority of people can have the vaccination and we can have an end to this pestilence and suffering.  That is what we are praying for!