Mourning # 26
Winter weeds are taking control
of the territory around the dormant
flowers, but I can’t be bothered.
I lost my father yesterday, and I can’t
cry. When I was young he made me
cry a lot, but now I’m numb, stunned.
I got a call from the hospital admin-
istration asking for disposition, if I
had already made arrangements.
They wanted to release the corpse.
It’s raining so hard outside right now.
Two million people died before old Dad,
but they were only data. Now the virus
is solid. Like it’s always been solid to
the doctors and nurses. I could go
to the hospital, but I can’t see him
anyway. And it’s still raining.
---- Gary Young, customer service rep-
resentative for Lowe’s Hardware from Gilroy
California, famous for the annual Garlic
Festival, died of Covid-19 on March 17,
2020. He was 66.
Gary was a talker, he loved to chat with
everyone, he loved to make people laugh
by telling jokes, everyone in town knew and
liked Gary because he was so garrulous.
The wait staff in restaurants where he ate
remembered him by name. The customers
at Lowe’s always got a friendly chat with
Gary Young. He engaged; he made connections;
he created human networks. We need that.
Gary seemed too young and too exuberant
to die. Now everyone who ever knew him feels his
loss.
