Dear Aether,

They feel like two different lives and two different mes, each of whom can only talk to the other through fragmented memories.

2 April

ngl, I'm worried. Mom is 63. She has diabetes and hypertension. She works in a hospital and while her job can be done remotely, her boss doesn't believe COVID is a serious enough issue to approve her request. Because she doesn't directly treat patients, she has no PPE whatsoever.

Aether, you know how I struggle with pattern recognition: that I link too many things, organizing events and observations into categories that are too narrowly defined to ever accurately reflect the world.

13 years ago today, my dad was admitted to ICU. 3 days later, he died of pneumonia, drowning as his lungs fell apart. Acute respitory failure resulting from a different pandemic: HIV/AIDS. As far as I have experienced, pandemics are what kill parents.