Community Diary Response from Brenna J.

Portsmouth (N.H.)

COVID-19 (disease)

Diaries

Entry into the Community Diary. Includes color photo of funeral.

Jennings, Brenna

Community Diary: Portsmouth Covid-19 Pandemic 2020

Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections

2020-04-29

View our Terms of Use and Copyright Information

PDF

JPG

eng

Text

StillImage

PPL-MS: 2020.4.006

"My husband and I are both currently employed, but both recognize that's not guaranteed indefinitely. He's an essential worker for the City of Portsmouth DPW, I've always worked from home for a New York City-based nonprofit"

"Attending the virtual funerals of my two remaining grandparents within 3 weeks of each other."

"I don't know that it's changed me so much as made me more aware of certain aspects of living, made me more clear of my boundaries and what kinds of traits in friends and family I'm willing and unwilling to overlook."

"Without question the inability to be with family through two huge losses. The morning after my grandmother died I let a friend give me a hug and it felt criminal."

"This is my view of the virtual funeral for my grandfather held on Long Island, where I'm from, where some of my family still lives, and where he died at 89 after contracting COVID-19 in his nursing home. My family couldn't follow the casket to his burial. Three weeks after this, my grandmother, also pictured here, died unexpectedly. I realize this is a very intimate and maybe uncomfortable image to share, but I think it's important to remember all of the repercussions of this pandemic, not just the statistics."