Spring has arrived here in its usually rainy, cool breezes with sunny days peeking in amongst the clouds. Monday last brought us howling winds with gusts close to hurricane force, mixed with a deluge of rain appearing to come down sideways thanks to those winds. But the birds are sending out flirting songs across the trees sending messages to potential mates, plants are pushing up from their winter bed of cold soil and, as they say, “Hope Springs Eternal.”
When my husband and I were building our house in 1997, we met the friendliest, most knowledgeable mason, when he came to build our chimney. That man was Tom Furino. Tom died last week and we send sincere sympathy to his family and friends on the loss of this remarkable man. He will be missed by so many.
Another week has passed with many of us seeing and doing things we never dreamed of. For the first time in memory, all churches on the Island were empty of congregates on Easter, except for the celebrant. But thanks to the luxury of Webcams, Zoom, and other electronic devices many of us were able to participate in all of the services, perhaps in a different manner but still being able to carry on important traditions so all is not lost.
Our family kept up its Easter Egg Hunt tradition of over 30 years but this time each family held it in their own yards, not all of us gathered together in one place. Our household is large and our hunt consisted of four adults and three children while the three-month-old was content to just sleep away in her chair. Chance, the dog, participated also as he deftly intercepted a plastic egg from the year-old toddler, and took off with it like Tom Brady running for a touchdown. It was a time of laughter and love.
So many good deeds done by so many people, groups, and organizations help keep hope alive to us all. The services we had taken for granted in the past including grocery shopping, pharmacy, police, fire and EMS services, hospital and health providers, package and mail deliveries, trash collections and many more, are continuing at health and life risk by these faithful providers. We are so grateful. As written in the Old Farmer’s Almanac: “Even a small star shines in the darkness.”
A friend asked me the other day how this new way of life compared to the life here on the Island during World War II. I said it did not seem that strange to me but the normal way of doing things. I was only 5 when World War II started. The world was just recovering from the Great Depression so we did not expect much. There were many servicemen everywhere. Few people had cars, my family only had a couple of bikes. Gas was severely rationed, along with sugar, meat, shoes, butter, etc., and all required using ration stamps to purchase. I had a friend whose father worked at the Navy Airport, now the M.V. Airport. Her dad was lucky enough to have a car and took us for a ride by the airport. As we drove up Barnes Road, we could see the barbed wire fence along the left-hand side of the road bordering the airport. Walking alongside the fence were guards with dogs to prevent anyone from trying to breach the fence. The few cars that were driving by were not permitted to even slow down or a guard and dog would immediately approach them and send them along. When we got to the end of Barnes Road, unless you had a pass, you could not turn right along the West Tisbury Road but had to turn left away from the Base. But we accepted it as it kept us safe just as we need to accept many of these new restrictions because they keep us safe.
When news of this deadly virus and restrictions to our lives that it would bring first became known, at first my family could not understand why I was buying certain goods in a greater supply than usual, not hoarding but being careful. They soon found out. History was a great teacher.
Celebrate Patriot’s Day on Monday, perhaps by having a family race around the house would be fun.
We send birthday smiles to Nicholas BenDavid on the 15th, Mark Baird on April 19, Matt Leonard on the 20th, Shelby Ponte on April 22, and Gloria Steere on the 23rd.
Enjoy your week. Peace.