It's a blessing

In order to celebrate Gwendolin’s 50^th birthday, she invited friends and family to a gathering in Spring Valley, NY (Rockland County, NY). During that time, Hurricane Irene was to batter the Bahamas and I didn’t think it would come up to the Northeast or impact me personally. I arrived in Newark on Thursday, August 25 to partly cloudy skies but Friday, the day of the party, where we chatted and ate and danced, was gorgeously sunny. But even then, the news began to trickle in that the Eastern seaboard would get a pounding; Hurricane Irene would arrive on Sunday. While North Carolina was under evacuation orders, the authorities were evaluating the evacuation of New Jersey, Long Island and Manhattan. 

During the party, I got a call on my cell that my flight, scheduled to leave at 6:30 on Saturday, had been cancelled. I began worry. I had plans to go to NYC to help my friend, Johnny O out. What about lodging? The rental car? What about food? And my first day of class of grad school in Berkeley? It would all have to wait. So instead of enjoying the rest of the time at the party, I was contending with options on how to get back, return to my scheduled life and fulfill all the obligations I had promised. That night when I got to my hotel, I called my airline and was put on hold until 5 a.m. before they answered. All flights from EWR, JFK, LGA were cancelled: the next available flights would not be until Tuesday at the earliest.

On Thursday, after a medical appointment I went to Rainbow to get some peppercorns. Upon entering the self-service displays of food (nut butters, olives, cooking oil, fermented pastes, etc.) were closed with a sign indicating that they were to be closed until further notice due to the Covid-19. As I looked for a couple more items I noticed that long lines of patrons were stock piling provisions into the grocery baskets. I saw a friend who because of family illness told me she hadn’t had time shop with a basket filled to the rim. I smiled motioning to my little bag of peppercorns, “Did I not get the memo?”

On Friday after work, I went to Trader Joe’s to get a few items, and the store looked ransacked: no greens, no bread, no milk or eggs, no chips, no pastas or canned foods, or bananas. Saturday, there was a long line just to get in to Trader Joes. While an Oval Office address proclaimed new actions like the closing travel of non-nationals from Europe, I did not see the need to store away dry good, canned foods and toilet paper. I was told, that this was in case we were quarantined and could not get out. It was as it was the end of the world. All I got was chocolates, ginger beer, and three bananas—priorities.

What no more coffee or samples?

This is the line just to get inside.

This is the line in Safeway

 I had come to a birthday celebration and now those plans to get back to my life were interrupted. Sensing my anxiety, Frau Mechtild, Gwendolin’s mother, told me, “It is a blessing.”

I came to see that the Hurricane was a blessing. Suddenly there were some twenty individuals who were stranded together. We would eat the leftovers from the reception and hung out in Gwedolin’s home as the storm raged outside. I am sure Gwendolin did not expect that she’d have guests two days after the party. But she regaled in it. She was so happy to have people, young and old, in her home—the birthday party was extended. It was as when St. Scholastica barraged heaven with prayers so her brother, St. Benedict, would stay the night at her monastery. A storm ensued and her brother had to stay the night to the delight of the nun.

Covid-19 impacts

• No gatherings of 100 or more people in San Francisco. Following that directive, St. Agnes cancelled the 10:30 Mass for March 15, but left the other three intact.
• SFUSD: Closed all schools March 16-27. Los Angeles USD, Parlier USD, Sanger USD, Fresno USD closed for 4 weeks.
• SF Archdiocese: closed all schools. The Fresno Diocese closed all Catholic schools and has cancelled ALL masses beginning March 16 to March 29^th.
• SF Public Libraries closed and changed into Child care centers.
• All museums closed. SFMOMA, DeYoung, Legion of Honor, Asian Art Museum, Oakland Museum of California
• Disneyland and Disneyworld are closed.
• NBA, NHA, and NCAA have cancelled their games.
• Dow Jones stocks decline 20% on March 12, 2020; initiating a bear market putting an end of an 11 year expansion of growth
• March 13, 2020, National Emergency Declassed.
• Non-nationals from Europe are barred from entering the US for 30 days.
• The countries of Italy, Spain and France are on lock down
• The State of Illinois will shut down bars and restaurants.

Michael, a guest, mentioned that it was nice to have a decision made for us. If we had decided to extend our vacation, we would have felt guilty, perhaps irresponsible. But since this decision was an Act of God, we simply had to accept.

Lodging was found for me in a dorm nearby and being the only non-relative of this group, I could not have imagined staying with a more pleasant group of people. There was not much to do. We would have meals together, drink wine and beer, chat, take a nap, play a game, take a walk, have another meal, drink and chat some more. And this would not have happened had it not been for a hurricane that stranded us together. So as I think the impact Covid-19 is having on us, I think of Frau Mechtild’s words and look for the blessing.