What a beautiful day on Eagle Avenue! I ran three miles on the gravel with a 2-mph SE wind and a perfect 50-degree temperature.
After lunch, it warmed up to 63. I sat in the sun reading for an hour.
I don't want to think that my happiness is weather-dependent, but I must say I felt a lift in my spirits. I smiled all day--until Dan beat me 2-1 in Ping-Pong tonight.
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Our county's public health system was not able to schedule enough eligible people for its upcoming Monday vaccine distribution, so they opened up a back door to "non-eligible" folks willing to fill up the empty slots. Two of those will be my daughter who lives in Des Moines (and works in Cass County) and my husband Dan.
This is happy news for my family, but I can't help but think the vaccine roll-out favors those with internet access, connections, and wherewithal to track down vaccine opportunities.
No one wants the vaccines to go unused. And I know eligible people who for various reasons are declining the vaccine. (A 74-year-old friend of ours says he wants to wait for the one-dose Johnson & Johnson version. His diabetic wife is allergic to eggs and fears she won't tolerate COVID vaccination.)
So while I am glad that two more of my loved ones will be COVID protected, I am concerned that many in my community are missing out on or refusing the vaccine.
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A few days ago, my sister Adrienne suggested I write our parents' obituaries. She explained that doing it now will be less difficult than when stung by grief. We'll only need to make small edits when needed.
This is a good idea. But I can't begin to outline my parents' lives' trajectories, accomplishments, and milestones, let alone know what to prioritize. This circled me back to an idea I thought of months ago when I took part in an Oklahoma State oral-history project.
Oral-history projects record conversations with people who have lived through a range of experiences. My reliance on Zoom during the past year of COVID has given me the skills to do this!
So tomorrow at 1 p.m., Adrienne and I will log onto Zoom with our parents to record our dad talking about the early years of his life. The plan is that over the next several weeks we will visit with both parents about their lives and record the videos for posterity.
Their stories, in their voices, will chronicle their lives for their grandchildren and beyond (and help me write their obituaries).
When I called my dad today to explain the project (sans the obituary dimension), I asked him if he was willing to talk about his childhood tomorrow.
"Oh my, yes!" he said. I heard sunshine in his voice.
Enough.
Be well.
Write.
Allison
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| Screenshot from a video of Wolf pulling himself up to standing. <3 |
Videos of your parents telling about their lives will be a wonderful legacy for your children and grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteThree years ago as my sister and I sat with our mother watching her health quickly decline, we wrote her obituary. We laughed and cried as we searched for the exact words we needed and began to work through our grief. When the day came just weeks later, having that task finished let us focus on our siblings and families as we gathered to celebrate her life.
Thank you, Margo. Last Sunday we recorded our 7th episode. I'm not sure I'm much closer on writing the obit, but we are savoring the "permission" to talk/record each week. <3
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