This is really starting to hit home.
In 2009, I made contact with a first cousin who introduced me via a letter to another cousin, Carolyn Hunsaker, of Salt Lake City. I emailed back and forth with Carolyn for nine years until my wife, Karen, and I finally met her and multiple Mormon cousins in-person in 2018 on a long postponed pilgrimage to Utah.
Carolyn died of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic a few weeks ago. In the 12 years I knew her she became a better-than-good friend. She was an outstanding friend. A history buff, she sent me reams of material, photos and books about our western U.S. family. She arranged for us to meet eight cousins for the first time. She was the linchpin of her large family. She was all about her family and her Mormon faith. The good Lord doesn’t make people any better than Carolyn.
We have now had six COVID cases in our family: Carolyn and her brother, Rob; our daughter, Tracy, and her husband, Keith; plus our niece, Amanda, and her son, Cole. All but Carolyn have come through o.k.
I hope readers will exercise great caution. COVID is very much a part of the American (and world) reality and will be so for some time to come. It’s out there. It’s dangerous. It can kill you even if, like Carolyn, you are fully vaccinated. Be careful, friends. COVID really is the enemy from within.
I got my Pfizer booster two weeks ago and also saw my doc for a check-up. He said last summer their hospital system had about 30 hospitalized COVID patients on average, but it’s now up to 350 - with 150 in the ICU. He also told me the story of two longtime friends of his who refused the vaccine. Both middle-aged and both now dead from COVID.
Lester Holt, the NBC Nightly News anchor, ends every newscast saying, Take Care of Yourself and Each Other. Those are words to live by.
In the meantime, RIP Carolyn.
DY: In Just a Few Words is a blog that comes out when something needs to be said or every Tuesday - whichever comes first. Davis Young is a communications professional who adds 50+ years of experience and perspective to issues of the day. His emphasis in DY: In Just a Few Words will be humor (a touch of sarcasm here, a pinch of facetiousness there...). Once in a while, he will touch on something a bit more serious - but hopefully not too deep or depressing.
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