Visiting Jan During COVID

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes, 32 seconds

We Kiss After a Month Apart

“It is so good to hear your voice,” Jan said as I stood in the hospital’s lobby, dropping off lunch. “I have good news. Dr. Strair said you can come to visit me tomorrow.” I am sure she said more, but between our mutual tears and the ambient noise of the hospital, all I could say and hear were a crescendo of mutual love messages.

Except for three days, she had been in the hospital for a month.

I drove to New Brunswick to drop off food and clean clothes daily. I would call to let her know I had made the delivery each time. Because Jan had COVID, the lobby was as close as I was allowed.

Along with calls every evening and text message, these brief calls became our only lifeline.

Most were brief and exacerbated our mutual loneliness and anxiety. Today’s call was the first that gave us hope.

I can’t wait to see you,” my voice was so loud I was sure she could hear me without her iPhone.

“Me too; bring enough lunch for both of us.”

We discussed options and agreed on what we would have for lunch.

“I have to go. The nurses are doing vitals.”

I placed my iPhone in my pocket and danced out of the hospital.

I texted the boys and their partners when I got to Jan’s car.

When I dropped off lunch today, Jan had exciting news. I have been approved to visit her tomorrow. We are both delighted 😃 to be able to see each other!

March 17, 2021, 11:48 am

Hope Springs Eternal

Arriving home, I race thru the house, ensuring everything is in order. In the month she has been in the hospital, I have only used the kitchen and the spare bedroom. My footprint has shrunken to the smallest possible space. Yet, I am worried that if she came home, something might be amiss.

Then I remind myself that she is not coming home. I can visit her tomorrow, but her discharge date remains undetermined.

A buzzing noise arouses me from chores. Is it a bee in the house?

No, my iPhone is ringing.

“Dr. Strair, how are you?”

I understand you will be visiting Janice tomorrow.

“Yes, I am. Thank you for making it possible for me to visit my wife.”

I was worried about her mental health. I knew you were the only one who could cheer her up.”

I want to tell him how worried I have been about Jan. I love her; I need her; I can’t lose her. 

“I will do my best….” I can’t finish the sentence. Tears filled my throat, and the water washed against my molars.

“I understand. I will be visiting with the two of you in the afternoon. I believe we have found something in Janice’s blood work that might be her lucky break.

I want to ask, but will it ruin her chances?

Can you share anything with me now,” I ask despite my fears.

“I should be able to share more tomorrow. But Janice’s pathology report indicated that she had an expression of CD30, which is very treatable.”

“Thank you. My wife needs a lucky break.”

Tears formed in my throat like I had swallowed all the ocean water.

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The Faraway World

Read: January 2023

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The Faraway World: Stories

by Patricia Engel

The Faraway World: Stories by Patricia Engel was released six days ago. The Faraway World is an exquisite collection of ten haunting, award-winning short stories set across the Americas and linked by themes of migration, sacrifice, and moral compromise. I highly recommend this collection of short stories. All ten are ones I would read again. As Leigh Newman wrote in her review in the NYTimes, The Faraway World is “a collection about the Latin American diaspora.”

In addition, Leigh Newman described The Faraway World proves that Engel, like one of her characters, is capable of noticing “that between two people, a look reveals more than a fingerprint.” The first story in the collection, “Aida,” is about two twins, one of whom goes missing. Once I read this story, I could not stop until I had read all ten.

The stories are based in Cuba, Colombia, and the US. I know a few NJ settings that gave more meaning to these stories. I felt like I was in Cuba and Colombia, which I had never visited.

NPR interviewed Patricia Engel. She described how she wrote the stories.

They came to me at different points when I was thinking about other things. But of course, they are connected by this – the motivating force for change, desire, and the ever-changing conditions of identity and movements and changing geography and landscape and diaspora. Those are things that I explore in all my writing, and it’s something that I explore in my life. So, of course, it permeates my stories.


The Goodreads summary provides an overview,

Two Colombian ex-pats meet as strangers on the rainy streets of New York City, both burdened with traumatic pasts. In Cuba, a woman discovers her deceased brother’s bones have been stolen, and the love of her life returns from Ecuador for a one-night visit. A cash-strapped couple hustles in Miami to life-altering ends.

The Faraway World is a collection of arresting stories from The New York Times bestselling author of Infinite Country, Patricia Engel, “a gifted storyteller whose writing shines even in the darkest corners” (The Washington Post). Intimate and panoramic, these stories bring to life the liminality of regret, the vibrancy of the community, and the epic deeds and quiet moments of love.


The Jan Lilien Education Fund sponsors ongoing sustainability and environmental awareness programs. Gifts made this month; I will match dollar-for-dollar. All donations are tax-deductible.

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Dragony Rising: A Frank Nagler Novel

Read: September 2022

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Dragony Rising: A Frank Nagler Novel

Dragony Rising: A Frank Nagler Novel by Michael Stephen Daigle is the fifth and best Frank Nagler Novel.

Like many of us living in the Garden State, Detective Frank Nagler has seen his hometown of Ironton, NJ, undergo many changes over the past several years. Although I want to believe the level of scandal in Ironton is more fictional than typical. The author describes the scandals within the city’s government, the stench of its corruption embedded deep, rivaling the dank stagnant stench emanating from the old bog just outside town.

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The author’s summary provides a good overview.

Detective Frank Nagler is recalled from medical leave to lead an investigation into the bombing.

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He also finds a decades-old conspiracy designed not just to enrich the Dragony leaders but to threaten the existence of Ironton itself.


The Jan Lilien Education Fund sponsors ongoing sustainability and environmental awareness programs. Gifts made this month; I will match dollar-for-dollar. All donations are tax-deductible.

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Read: August 2021

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Having read this book, I can easily understand why my wife loved the book and encouraged me to read it. Her life story was much like Una’s, an uplifting story of her spiritual journey and her quest to repair the world.

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In Five Years

Read: September 2021

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In Five Years

by Rebecca Serle

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle is a good, quick read. It is an “unforgettable love story that reminds us of the power of loyalty, friendship, and the unpredictable nature of destiny.”

The protagonist Dannie Kohan is a Type A lawyer who has her life planned out by the numbers. Everything she believes will happen according to her plan. But life sometimes throws us a curveball.

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Read: May 2021

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The Keepers of the House

by Shirley Ann Grau

The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau is a book that I read a portion of for a college class, but for reasons that I cannot now remember never got around to reading it from cover to cover. In the early stages of grief, I found a copy in our bookshelf and said, let me read it now. It was a decision that I did not regret.

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Read: August 2021

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My Friend, I Care: The Grief Experience

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My journey from the Island of Grief back to the Land of Love is long and arduous. Friends, especially those who have also lost a loved one, are the guideposts on this journey. One of these friends, Sue Gramacy, sent this book to me during the early phases of my grief journey.

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