Abundance During COVID

Quarantining with my family turned out to be a blessing I could not have anticipated. As an African American family, the quarantine started with my documentation of the spread of the COVID virus. My heart grieved over the hundreds of thousands of Americans who were dying of this virus. However, it was further impacted in a deeper way when my beloved country exploded in a surge of racial hatred. America, for people of color, became the home of the insane. Video after video documented the cruelty of racism incited by Trump’s leadership. Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Elijah McClain, Philando Castile, Eric Garner are only a few names of the life of horror many African American families had to deal with in addition to the threat of COVID. Racial hatred escalated not only against African Americans, but Hispanic Americans, Asian Pacific Islanders and Jewish Americans also felt the cruelty, as the notion of “white supremacy” loomed over American life. I felt a great despair spreading over my emotions, so I turned to what meant the most to me – Faith in God and the love of my family. Both rendered extraordinary results.

My two daughters, Catherine and Mikal, saturated our family quarantine with a culinary explosion of flavors as they introduced dishes from around the world. My husband, Carl and I had the opportunity to taste Cajun cuisine, Southern Comfort cuisine, Ethiopian, Greek, Italian, and Cuban cuisine. In addition to the extraordinary food, my son introduced into our lives Miles and Maya, our new grand twins. Getting loving hugs from our 5-year-old grandson Hampton sealed the deal. Our spirits were lifted in ways only our family could have achieved. As a Christian family, our Sunday gatherings were filled with food, games, and prayer for the well-being of all. Our prayers to God were filled with gratitude for how he provided abundantly during COVID, how he kept us safe as we followed CDC guidelines, how we were able to bless others who were less fortunate. We discovered during quarantine, that our survival as a family was a result of our collective love and respect for each other as we kept God in the center with prayer. While the world outside continued to break out in cruel insanity, inside my world was filled with God’s peace and serenity. For that, I am grateful.