The Year of Living Covidly

Lauren in front of her dorm at Bradley University A few days before Bradley University suspended in person classes, my niece Lauren's floor was quarantined. Coincidentally, her mom (my sister, Theresa) was in Peoria for the weekend. So Lauren went home to ride out the quarantine. When it was time to return, Lauren took the train from her home to Normal. In the last year or so, I have become familiar with the Amtrak station in Normal, near Illinois State University, as I have driven over several times to pick my nieces, nephew, and son when they have been traveling to central Illinois from Chicagoland.  The uptown station has signs saying that face coverings are required to enter the building.  There is something romantic about train travel.   The train that travels from Chicago to St. Louis, stopping in Normal, is called the Ann Rutledge, after Abraham Lincoln's first love. When we stayed at my grandparents, we would hear this train's whistle. Sometimes in the winter, lis...

  My dad turned 89 on September 24, 2020. We had a socially-distant, masked party at their home. It was a beautiful evening.  I was in charge of the food, and we got carryout from Biaggi's. All were interested in the victuals.   So much so that the non-human had to be banished to the sunroom. Hard to convey in words how much my dad means to me and all of us. I think about all the tennis balls he patiently hit to us, the calm, wise words when we screwed up, the rides at any time of the day or night when we were in need, all the love. There's no way to pay him back. We were very glad to be able to celebrate with him.  It's not every day that you turn 89! Thanks so much Dad! We love you!

When the whole world shut down in March because of COVID, that included public Masses at St. Mark's Catholic Church in Peoria.  After a few weeks, our pastor Msgr. Brian Brownsey, like many priests, decided to livestream some Masses on our school's Facebook page. Friday 9 am Mass and Saturday 4:30 pm are the Masses we live stream. You can find them at the St. Mark's School Facebook page.       https://www.facebook.com/StMarkSchoolPeoriaIL As I am an administrator of the page, I was able to bring my cellphone to church and video the Mass. The first few times were a little nerve-wracking as the original tripod I had was wobbly. Plus, I really didn't know what I was doing.  As time went on, I got more comfortable livestreaming the Masses. I'm definitely not a professional videographer, but do a good enough job. Most of all, it was a huge gift to be able to attend Mass during the early months of the pandemic. Praying for all that is good to the Sacred Heart of ...

One of the things I missed the most during the COVID shutdown was libraries. I love books and quiet spaces to read, which seem to define a library. In Peoria, we are fortunate to have an excellent library system and I was overjoyed when it opened back up this summer. While I usually go to the Main Branch of the library, recently I was in search of a book that led me to the Lincoln branch. The Lincoln branch was funded by capitalist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who built libraries across the United States.  As the cornerstone indicates, the Lincoln branch was built in 1910. In 2009, an addition was added to the library. As workers prepared the ground for construction, they discovered almost 100 graves that were part of the old Peoria Cemetery, which was operational from 1842-75. Most of the graves had been moved to Springdale, but some remained. Over half of the graves were of children. The graves that were in the footprint of the addition needed to be relocated before constr...