by Dominic Rivera
I would be lying if I said that Covid19 did not scare me. There was a continuous onslaught of worry about how to live without contracting the virus. It was something new for all of us. No one has a blueprint on how to survive a pandemic.
Despite our fear, my wife and I were torn between earning a living and staying alive. She is the baker at Baking Mama in Hoboken. I am the dish washer. Yes, every great baker needs an efficient dish washer. We continued baking despite the drop in sales. People were still celebrating birthdays and milestones despite the imposed restrictions. It made us feel good that our products were helping make people feel happy despite the circumstances.
This pandemic has made me explicitly aware of what is essential and important. We only need the minimum in life. What is important is the presence of your family and loved ones. Every meal now involves everyone doing their share to prepare. Our dinners take longer now because of conversations that involve reminiscing, sharing current news, learning about pressing issues, and sharing of memes as a short form of entertainment. Faith has also become a regular topic of discussion in our family. My son has gifted himself with more time for reading. My daughter is now a cinephile, writing short reviews. Both of them have become bakers (who is not a baker now?). Meanwhile, my wife is on a mission to finish all Korean dramas.
Prayer has taken back its rightful place in our family. We continue to attend Masses via livestream. We even find time to attend weekday Masses while at the shop. I have also taken the initiative of running the daily 7:00 am livestream of the Rosary for the OLM Facebook page.
This pandemic should not hinder us from living. Life goes on. I still worry. When I do, I remind myself of Matthew 6:26. “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”