JUST A MOMENT AGO

Unlike a large percentage of son-in-law’s, I liked my mother-in-law.

Ruby wasn’t what I would call a conversationalist. But, as you might imagine, when she said something, she had something to say, and everyone listened. For her family knew that when she opened her mouth to speak, something interesting, insightful or intelligent would come out.

And witty! Ruby was perhaps the wittiest person I ever met. There is the story about a phone call she received when she was a middle-aged housewife. The conversation went very much like the following paraphrase:

“Hello?”

“Hi. This is Arthur Murray Studio.”

“Yes, what can I do for you?”

“Hello, ma’am. We would like to introduce ourselves, and provide you three free dance lessons.”

(And without so much as a moment’s pause, Ruby responded).

“I’m sorry, honey. I only have one leg!”

I can report that the solicitor quickly bid his apologetic farewells, and hung up.

Pt. 2

Ruby was born in 1916, two years before a dreaded ogre stalked the earth, and did its worst among a significant percentage of the world’s inhabitants.

“The Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918, the deadliest in history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide, about one-third of the planet’s population, and killed an estimated 50 to 100 million victims, including some 675,000 Americans. The 1918 flu was first observed in Europe, the United States, and parts of Asia before swiftly spreading around the world.

At the time, there were no effective drugs or vaccines to treat this killer flu strain. Citizens were ordered to wear masks, schools, theaters and businesses were shuttered, and bodies piled up in makeshift morgues before the virus ended its deadly global march.”

Ruby’s father, my grandfather-in-law, John Quincy Weeks, a healthy, vibrant 26 year old man, succumbed to the pandemic; just ten days prior to the end of WWI. He left his wife and family through no fault of his own, and when the little orphan was older, and cognizant enough to recount her childhood memories, her father was not one of them.

Does my previous description of the Spanish Flu Pandemic “ring a bell?” Is there anything about it which sounds remotely familiar?

A full hundred years after that insidious flu pandemic was conquered in 1920, the world is experiencing something very much like it; in fact, the greatest, most wide-spread, most virulent  pandemic in exactly a century.

Even as I type these words, the world has already experienced over a million cases of Coronavirus, 300,000 of which are in the United States, and it has been conjectured that, before it’s over, as many as two million U.S. citizens may succumb to the virus.

Like forty other states, our governor just issued a “Shelter in Place” order. The restaurants, theaters, beaches and parks are closed for business, and other than a few excepted vocations, Florida’s and most of America’s workforce has been mandated to stay home.

Pt. 3

In his briefing yesterday, our president encouraged “the whole lot” of us to wear masks, and you see more, and more people wearing them, as you visit the grocery stores, or take-out restaurants.

I have seen several news reports which feature small business establishments in the process of producing masks. My own sister-in-law, Sue, has been making masks for herself, and other family members; (which is very much appreciated, indeed). I especially like the mask she gave her sister, (my wife) which features images of the Statue of Liberty and our beloved American flag.

In the past couple of days, my wife was going through the contents of Ruby’s antique Singer sewing machine, and came across what I would refer to as a “poignant find;” something my dear mother-in-law left behind.

A bag full of elastic

And it occurred to her that what Ruby left inside that old sewing machine decades ago was for “just such a time as this.” (Esther 4:14)

No sooner had Jean come across this treasure, than she contacted her sister, and offered her the precious commodity. I say “precious” since not only is toilet paper at a premium during this season, but you just can’t find any elastic in the craft shops.

Of course, Sue began to crank out more face masks utilizing the elastic strips from her mother’s ancient stash. And I think she must have felt a great deal of satisfaction, in essence, bringing her mother into a project which not only hearkens back to the past, the century old flu pandemic, and the loss of her own father, but to the present and the deepening season in which her own beloved children and grandchildren find themselves.

John Quincy, and millions of others who lived and moved and breathed at that time walked the shadowy, bending path which stretched before them, and just as it came, it came to pass. 

And given the testing and resiliency of those who have gone on before us, and the common challenges with which we presently contend, somehow it seems hardly more than a moment ago.

by William McDonald, PhD. Copyright pending

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