June 4, 2021

From Carolyn:

In the first few months of the pandemic, when so much of my life went online (work, contact with family, and even my wedding), I craved in-person experiences. I coped with my isolation during the lockdown by interviewing strangers at a six-foot distance in public parks around Boulder, CO, where I lived. These interviews at the “office in the park” became the “Boulder Covid Stories” project and book.

 

This block is a tribute to my cousin, who died unexpectedly by suicide on June 4th, 2021. He was 18 years old. His death happened at a striking moment: at the beginning of the Great Reopening in the summer of 2021, when most people had been vaccinated against Covid-19 and in-person events had started taking place again. During those first few days of summer, I remember feeling excited, but also tentative. The pandemic year had underscored so many of the challenges we were facing as a country and as a planet. I wanted to live a life full of people and physical spaces again, but I was unsure how to proceed, knowing that we couldn’t just go back to the way things were before.

 

Just when it seemed like we were in the clear and in-person life could resume, my cousin ended his life. We don’t really know the extent to which his death had to do with the pandemic. It’s possible that the pandemic didn’t have much to do with it at all. For me, though, that moment in time was challenging—a little scary, and more than a little sad. We were reckoning with so much loss, and the way forward wasn’t obvious. I actually think that we’re still in that moment now, still trying to figure out a new way to live in this sweet old world. I wish he were here to figure it out with us.

Carolyn’s block is also the first “official” block of the ‘Story Network’. While she did do some initial stitching on the piece, I (Heather) created the final design based on her book, Boulder Covid Stories, and additional knowledge I had because of our friendship and collaboration over her time in Boulder. This design became a pattern, which my mother, Margot, stitched. It’s been an honor to be part of Carolyn’s time in Boulder, and share this unique time in history.