One asset of C19 is a new appreciation for family.
Pre-Covid 19, little news affirmed family life. So mundane, passe and irrelevant in a modern world dominated by social media.
Now I nightly anticipate visiting the dens and kitchens of television hosts uploading from home. Belly laughs and kudos to the Jimmy Fallon family. Wife Nancy is behind the camera as two young daughters giggle, crawl all over dad or walk away mid-joke. He televisits with others forced to live cheek-by-jowl with their kids.
Zoom talent shows connect cousins and playmates. Grandparents sign on from around the country to be entertained. Formal Fridays, themed family dinners, quirky ways to play Candyland for the 25th time in a week. Our creativity scales new heights that upgrade our "captivity" to "family time" while social distancing.
I sob for Italian families, On my phone screen a priest offers final blessings to rows upon rows of coffins in a chapel empty of the living. Masked guards wait to truck the bodies away. "La familia" has always been essential in Italian culture. I feel sorrow for the loved ones barred from sharing final moments and last rites, missing the hugs, shared tears, and send-off feasts that the world knows is culturally mandated.
I text my working daughter and call to hear her voice often, My neighborhood online group is an endless source of inspiration and support. I check in daily with distant friends and family. C19 confirms La Familia is essential for our humanity..
A recent version of "family" before public events were banned. A bunch of playful adults designed blocks with adinkra stamps at Ellarslie, Trenton City Museum, Saturday March 7. Included are old friends who go back 30 years, and new ones I met for the first time that Saturday morning.