May 19, 2021: Memories of Those We’ve Lost

Mariana Garzon, of El Carmen Ecuador, died 19 April 2021 of COVID.

At times, the deaths of the past year seem overwhelming. Even as COVID deaths begin to decrease, we are left to contemplate the losses the pandemic has wrought. Not only has the virus taken the lives of tens of thousands, (almost 600,000, nearly 3.5 million worldwide) but so many have been unable to travel to be with family or loved ones who died by other causes, or to attend or even hold services.

My dear GNUUC family, this is trauma. Those of us who’ve experienced trauma in our lives know the feeling: beyond grief, it’s a kind of despair and shock combined that takes a lifetime to manage. The good news is that it can be held in a safe and trusted community. The good news is that you are part of such a community.

Although no one in my family even contracted COVID, I had friends and acquaintances who did, and some who died. One that struck me was a friend from my many trips to Ecuador, the mother of a doctor here with whom we’d planned our medical mission trips. She was perhaps seventy. But two of her children were physicians, one nearby, the other here in the US. Her American family couldn’t get to her. She died without seeing them. It is so hard for me to fathom her family’s distress and grief.

Sunday after this one (Memorial Day weekend) we will take a slightly different approach to Memorial Day, and I am asking you to help with the service by telling a brief story about someone you know (or don’t know, but whose death affected you) who died this past year. Please let me know by next Wednesday the 26th if you’d like to share. When we see how many speakers there are, I will give you a time limit. You may record your part or share it live during the service.

Eric, Marjorie, and I with Mariana and her son William about 2005. Santo Domingo, Ecuador.

I will tell you a short, funny story about one of my visits with Mariana and her family, that has to do with horrifying Ecuadorian drivers, my terrible Spanglish, and horseback “lessons.” Let us keep those who have passed on alive in our hearts by sharing stories.

With Love,

Cynthia