The True Joy of Life is the Trip

I am now what I have always been, which is a man with few friends.  It is an arrangement that has worked to the mutual benefit of the world and me for more than fifty-three years.  It serves both of us well.  A reason perhaps I feel so little disturbance in the force of my day-to-day associated with "life in pandemic"?  Consciously or not, I have been practicing social distancing since 1967.

Five Kenny siblings preceded me.  None followed me.  By virtue of that fact, Lisa Eves is the younger sister I never had.  What now feels like a very long time ago, slightly more than fifteen years, we spent five years working together at the Firm. In my experience, far more often than not, when co-workers become former co-workers, their relationship, however close it was, becomes attenuated.  Not Gracie and me.  I was there for her when her dad, Thomas, from whom she inherited her otherwise inexplicable love of the Baltimore Orioles, died far too young.  She was there for Margaret and me when Margaret's mom died more than ten years ago. She was there for me, again, three years ago when Mom died. 

Once upon a lifetime ago, as any good older brother does, I used to worry quite a lot about who she dated.  All worries evaporated when she and Joe got together.  Joe Morel is a genuinely good human being, chock full of excellent qualities.  My favorite one?  He unequivocally and unconditionally loves Gracie.  She unequivocally and unconditionally loves him right back.  Truthfully, I have no idea at this point how many years the two of them are together.  I am a surrogate older brother, not a clock-maker for crying out loud.  

To my knowledge, no one to whom I am related by blood has been stricken by COVID-19.  Joe's family, sadly, has been far less fortunate.  Jack Morel, Joe's father - whose acquaintance I never made but whose obituary was so beautiful I wished I had - died on March 30, 2020.  One day later, his family received confirmation that he had tested positive for COVID-19.  Jack Morel was eighty-six. 

Earlier this week, Gracie shared with me an article that Joe's nephew, Kyle, who is a reporter for The New Jersey Herald, wrote honoring his grandfather and discussing how his family dealt with an incalculable loss, for which all of them would have gathered to support one another, when normal rules of mourning do not apply.  I commend it to your attention...

...and I add my voice to the chorus sending condolences and love to Joe, Gracie, and Jack Morel's entire family.  

-AK