Yesterday & Andrew

Yesterday morning, I woke up and went outside on my patio downtown.

There I smelled Seattle, the beautiful, sweet smell of cedar.

The first time I landed in Seattle, I smelled the trees. It is a unique smell lovely bouquet that has become such a part of me that I don't even notice it anymore. Somehow, that scent has become the scent of home.

Maybe because so few cars have driven anywhere in the past few weeks, our air has become cleaner and the scent sneaks through.

Then I got my newspaper. The headline quoted the President as saying the next two weeks are going to be rough.

I cried.

I worry about everything.

I worry about Jack and his job in healthcare in the pediatric ICU. There are very few COVID cases in children, but he might get called up to take care of adults. Interestingly, his patient load is smaller right now because the hospital stopped all non-essential treatments, but the only patients in the hospital are the truly ill and complicated, people who are alive in spite of their millions of medical challenges. The healthcare community can keep these people alive which is miraculous, but doctors and nurses are knocked out by a new virus.

Last night, I told Claire-Adele I was depressed after reading the news. "Then don't read the news!" she said. "Why are you doing this?" says my news junkie daughter.

This morning, I watched Gov. Andrew Cuomo's press conference while I finishing off the last of a giant pan of bread pudding I made a few days ago with stale bread, a half dozen eggs, chocolate and cranberries. I friend of mine commented that she was going to gain the "COVID-19" which I am hoping to avoid but not really because bread pudding is good. There is comfort food, and then there is cranberry and chocolate bread pudding. Here is the recipe. I used a baguette or Italian bread instead of croissants, FYI. This shit is to die for. Okay, bad metaphor for these times but this is so delicious.

Back to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. He is more spectacular than my bread pudding. I cried watching his press conference. He is more spectacular than my bread pudding. It was so beautiful I watched it twice today. Listening to him talk, I got chills. I felt like it was eighty years ago and I was listening to FDR on the wireless discuss the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I have a masters degree in communication where I studied crisis communication and Cuomo's speech is brilliant. He strikes a lovely balance between dread and hope. The State of New York isn't planning towards the worse case scenarios because they can't even imagine how they would achieve that. Cuomo talks about the anxiety, the unknown, the isolation that is brought up from this virus. I bought a condo downtown so I could be close to the pulse and heartbeat of the city, and now that is gone. Cuomo gets that. He is upfront about what he doesn't know, but I have the strongest sense that this guy is doing what he believes what needs to be done.

What else is awesome?

1. Data! As bad as COVID is medically, it is a fascinating math and modeling problem. Cuomo uses and understands his data. Math is getting its moment in the sun. Let no student in a math class ever ask again "When will I use this?" When the world is nearly coming to an end and you need to figure out a way to stop it. Math needs a commercial. "Math. It is not just for nerds anymore."
2. Charts! He has nice PowerPoint slides.
3. The deeply endearing brotherly bond between Chris and Andrew Cuomo. Their mother must be proud.
4. Italians! Go Cuomo and Fauci! I never really thought of myself as having ethnic pride because I feel like such an American, but I'll claim Cuomo and Fauci.
5. Finally, leadership. Cuomo is taking charge as if he were the parental figure for all of his constituents and it is his job to take care of everyone. It is inspiring.