On January 6 of 2021, both of my parents died.
So many stories about people dying from COVID-19. Some resisted the vaccine. Some were also high-school sweethearts long ago.
My parents did not have a chance to get vaccinated. No vaccine was available to them. My father died in the hospital of COVID-19 pneumonia, an hour after my mother, and his wife of 75 years, died at home, probably of COVID-19, although that was not on her death certificate. She was never diagnosed, and passed in her sleep, under the care of 24/7 home care aides and hospice workers. Both were 96 years old.
They, too, were high school sweethearts, married in 1944, shortly before my father shipped out to pilot B-17s out of Italy. I was born in 1945, just before he came home safely after the war.
The local newspaper wanted to do a story about them. I asked that they not do that. Neither of my parents ever sought to be in the spotlight about anything. I wanted to respect their wishes, despite the nature of their deaths. Instead, I wrote a long joint obituary for them that ended up running on the paper's front page. I knew their story and I am a journalist. I did not want someone who did not know them romanticizing their deaths. So, that was how I began my year in 2021, writing my parents' obituary.
There are many similar stories. All of them are sad stories. We should not malign those who have died. It is a shame to malign them now, after their deaths. Yes, they were stupid. Yes, they should have been vaccinated. They are still dead, and are mourned by their families. We can think whatever we wish, but their deaths are not a reason to attack them now, after they're dead. That is not at all helpful to anyone or to any cause.
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and do whatever they could to make things easier for their survivors. It was a gift to DU, because unless you've lived through it, it's hard to comprehend the amount of confusing paperwork you have to deal with when you are in the midst of your grief.
I'm glad to see the DU community offering you so much support today. 
My writing is often more convoluted than I intend because I try to fit one more clause or adjective to make the original meaning more precise, yet, it doesn't turn out that way. 
In a way, you’ve given us something ELSE to think about on January 6th. Triple - if you also count what went on in Washington DC. As this old news junkie inevitably watches the news coverage of this upcoming January 6th and all that makes it newsworthy, I’ll also be thinking of you - and the two of them, reunited in Heaven on the same day.
I am there with you. My mom, 93, passed a year ago today, she was diagnosed five days earlier and was in a rehab facility, the virus was not mentioned on her DC. Six weeks later my dearest friend ever passed, that was far more upsetting, my mom and I were not close.
I was able to attend their memorials in June after becoming fully vaxxed, for then. I was able to spend time with my adopted, best friend's, family in between surges as I had to travel to their town for medical treatment and I stayed with them, they had already had covid and were vaxxed too.
I also, in June, had to find new housing with short notice so that added to the year's trauma. It's been a rough year, I am certain I had it easy compared to most as I was never short of money due to my inheritance that arrived rather quickly, and I am thankful beyond words for what I do have. That's all I can say about it too, I don't feel like I've gained anything, only maintained an existence.
And so, here we are, riding the big merry-go-round for another spinning twirl.
All the best to you and yours. 
Especially when the pandemic got rolling. I knew it would take those two and others, they were vulnerable by age alone.
There was something I did conclude on my own early into the pandemic, tough, that I will briefly describe here as we are now in the end of the first stage of the process.
Cultural anthropology is where I am coming from here though genetic anthropology is the place the original theory was determined;
Remember Stephen Jay Gould? Remember his theory of Punctuated Equilibrium? (I realize that Dr. Gould was a genetic anthropologist and his theory is meant to describe an attribute of genetic evolution, I have managed to extrapolate the basic theory to a more mundane level of culture, and philosophical ecosystems.)
Briefly, the theory claims that evolution did not occur in a metered set of steps, rather, they took place during , perhaps, catastrophic events in leaps and bounds which is where some genetic selection took place due to necessity of survival. (How's that for brief?
)
So I have concluded that this pandemic will prove itself to be one of those punctuated equilibrium events where all of our species is affected by the same thing which will cause all of our species to come to a reckoning on the philosophical, spiritual and cultural levels all within a rather short time frame, thus the word punctuated.
Now, two years in, I am seeing some areas of significant change, Hard to articulate at this point put things are definitely shifting on many levels, hang in there 'cause we're only two years in on a three to five year process. Changes will include a reduction in global population though we won't know how significant that will be until three or four years from now. People on the planet now are all in some kind of internal review, some will learn from it, others not.
I just hope the changes bring us to a better place as a species, if not, the planet will evict us.
That major events change how all things in nature goes about their business of survival. Ours is in transition and the results of our input will come rather quickly now. Since we live by reason and intent, those things will now be put under scrutiny in unexpected ways yet could be the best thing for survival of the species.
Purely speculation, though not an uninformed one.
But not only have they endangered others, as mentioned here, but also health care workers and other patients when all ICU beds are taken.
When all this will end, perhaps we will know how many health care workers quit in frustration and fatigue, and how many non-Covid died because they could not be admitted to a hospital on time.
My condolences to you. They lived a long, rich life and left you with rich memories that can be cherished.
I am not celebrating a single death, but I am not mourning for those who made a choice to refuse vaccines and walked and continue to walk among us spreading this deadly virus.
Great post.
Happy New Year to you and yours. 
was on Ploesti. He flew in the 463rd Bomb Group (Heavy) out of Foggia, Italy. He started flying there in 1944. After the war, he flew troop transport missions in a B-17 in the Green Project, then flew home to the US, via Africa, Brazil, Cuba, and Florida in his B-17. He mustered out in Florida and took a train back to Arizona.
Here's a photo of him and his crew in Foggia:
And here's the history and nostalgia website for the 463rd Bomb Group.
https://www.463rd.org/mission.htm
day Hospice movement. She spoke of how so often two old people, usually life partners, seemed to hold each other up, like two sticks. To illustrate, she held her hands as if in prayer. "When one goes," she said, lowering one of her hands, "so often the other quickly falls, as well." With that remark, she lowered her other hand.
I, too, have wished people here would stop grave-dancing — it’s such bad karma.
I, too, have been so angry that I have participated, especially when it’s a well-known person who had the power to influence.
All the while knowing how at-risk my own progeny are, because my daughter jumped down that rabbit hole and has kept on digging. 
She and her three kids spent these holidays sick. Early on her vaxxed friends with the “terrible cold” got tested and it came back negative. Finally they retested and it came back positive for COVID, so someone passed along an at-home test to my daughter and another for her oldest, and sure enough, they have COVID. But in her mind she has cured herself and her kids with homeopathy, so not to worry, hack cough.
The Serenity Prayer is helpful, but this has cracked thru and revealed the terror beneath. 
Please, DU, don’t wish them dead.
For you, MM, many thanks. Steady on — it’s what you do. May we live to see better times together.
I hope that your daughter and grandchildren recover fully and that they'll have enough immunity afterwards to make it through to the end of the pandemic safely.
And I hate that you have to plead with DU not to wish them dead because they're not vaccinated.
of this tragic, turbulent, and aspiring year, MM. May we all be part of making the next one better. If not us, who?
That must've been such a surreal day for you. If didn't do it then I want to offer my condolences to you on the loss of your parents. From your previous posts about them they sounded like great people who raised wonderful children. You were fortunate in that you had so much time with them. If I have your age right you were 74 when they passed. I was 37 with my mom and 45 with my dad. In a way I'm grateful that they both died before this pandemic hit. Mom was in a nursing home having suffered heart attack and several strokes. Dad had a pacemaker and was in frail health. Neither would've faired well.
As to the point you made about not grave dancing I agree. Don't get me wrong it makes me furious that so many were willfully stupid and didn't get the vaccine. It angers me greatly that the unvaccinated are breaking our healthcare system and are overwhelming hospitals to the point that people with other emergencies can't get the care they need because there aren't any beds. Still I take no joy in their deaths. So many needless deaths and for what? I would've much preferred that they'd gotten the vaccine. It didn't have to be this bad.
I hope you and yours have a safe and Happy New Year.