WEEKEND MUSING: ZOOM SHIVADear Usdan community: When the quarantine started, I feared my husband would not see his mom again. Myrna lived on the memory care floor of a nursing home and did in fact become very ill a few weeks later. She transitioned to hospice care, and thanks to the hospice quarantine rules my husband was allowed to visit his mom one more time. Two days later, she died. I tend to seek the silver linings in life, a habit I have brought into quarantine. It was hard to find it in my mother-in-law’s funeral and shiva but we did; quarantine has not taken away our human love to connect or our human need to be together. The rainy funeral was attended by eight family members, a rabbi, and an iPhone taped to a music stand, which enabled dozens more of our family and even more clergy to view the ceremony. The night of the funeral, our Zoom room filled with family and friends from across 10 time zones to join us for a new form of shiva. In this Zoom shiva, we shared my mother-in-law’s music -- she was a composer -- and laughed as we told stories from her wild life as a child to her last days living independently in Manhattan before moving into a nursing home. Though the visual experience was clearly 2D, the emotional experience hit all of our senses. I’ve been hearing from our families that one reason they are desperate for Usdan to open is so their children can socialize. My kids have made it very clear to me that there is nothing good about this quarantine for teenagers. They live very social lives, and FaceTime does not replace being with friends over lunch, hanging out in the school halls, or passing time at each other’s homes. I feel this social isolation in my own soul, uncertain when I will see my dad, my siblings and my best friends. The idea of sitting around doing nothing with people I adore feels like everything I want right now. That day will come. It must come. Yet, we cannot control when it will. Until it does, I aim to keep my mind open to these new ways of connecting, such as writing to you. I’ve never written regularly to our Usdan community, and I’m now hooked on the ritual of reflecting with you. Thank you for being with me. I hope you will share back your stories and your children’s stories about how you are connecting in new and unusual ways with those you love. Listen below to one of Myrna’s early compositions in which you will hear my husband and his brother singing back when they were children. The ringing bells are Balinese bells Myrna found at a yard sale in the 70s; today you can see them hanging in the courtyard behind Administration at Usdan. Sending warm wishes into this weekend, Lauren Brandt Schloss, Executive Director Myrna's Balinese bells hanging in the Usdan Administration courtyard Now more than ever we are using Amazon to get essentials. Did you know you could support Usdan by doing your usual shopping on Amazon Smile? Simply choose "Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts" as your supporting non-profit and Amazon will donate .5% of your order to camp. Looking for resources to stay creatively engaged at home? |