Memorial Day Amidst COVID-19

I’m not going to lie.  This is a pretty strange and sadder Memorial Day than most for me.  Like everything else in life, COVID-19 is making its impact felt.  At least it is for me.  I usually really enjoy Memorial Day where my family heads to the cemetery to see the headstones of our family members.  Some we knew well and some we didn’t know at all.  We’d all tell stories and share memories about these loved ones.  This year, at least some of my family is still heading there, but it’s just not the same when we can’t all be there together and be able to exchange hugs and affection for each other.

I guess it’s a good reminder that life is short and we have to make the most of our time here on earth with the ones we love.  You never know what’s coming around the corner.  I’m still blessed in so many ways to have my wife and kids together with me.  Lonely isn’t how I’d describe our house with 4 kids that have too much energy.  It’s presented its own challenges, but no more than everyone else and often less.  We still live in a good time as comparison to so many of my ancestors.  Many of my ancestors walked thousands of miles across the plains to find a better life.  Crazy to consider the sacrifices they made for our future.

Also, my thoughts are with all the frontline workers this Memorial Day as well.  Many have seen scenes they’ll never forget and may never fully recover from.  I’ve seen stories of others that feel the guilt that they’re not in that situation.  I’m amazed by the dedicated healthcare workers I know and am connected with and all they do to battle COVID-19.  We appreciate all you do and all you sacrifice.

Tomorrow we’ll be back with our regularly scheduled health IT content.  We hope you and yours have had as good a Memorial Day as possible.  I’m going to go hug the ones I love tight and hopefully make a memory we can share later.

About the author

John Lynn

John Lynn is the Founder of HealthcareScene.com, a network of leading Healthcare IT resources. The flagship blog, Healthcare IT Today, contains over 13,000 articles with over half of the articles written by John. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 20 million times.

John manages Healthcare IT Central, the leading career Health IT job board. He also organizes the first of its kind conference and community focused on healthcare marketing, Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference, and a healthcare IT conference, EXPO.health, focused on practical healthcare IT innovation. John is an advisor to multiple healthcare IT companies. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can be found on Twitter: @techguy.

2 Comments

  • John,

    I have been following your site for about a month now – a former (30-year) IT guy just trying to stay connected. But I was heartened to read your low-tech blog on Memorial Day, perhaps because I, like many, had similar feelings on that day. Anyway, appreciate your willingness to acknowledge the bigger picture . . .

  • Thanks Mark. Great to hear you’ve been enjoying the content and staying connected. We try to add a bit of humanity to our work. I never quite know how people will take it, but I appreciate you sharing your feelings on it. There’s definitely a much bigger picture. We’re just a small fish in a big pond.

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