Maybe Next Year

I grew up in a loving home with my mother, father, and three siblings. My widowed grandmother came to live with us shortly after my twin brother, David, and I were born. Oh yeah, we are sixteen years younger than my sister, Mickie, and fourteen years younger than my brother, Michael. It happens. 😉

During that time, my parents were senior partners in a law firm and spent a lot of time away from home. It worked out well that Nana was there to greet my brother and me after school. As David and I ate our snacks, Nana told us about Miguelito in Panama where she grew up. She was proud to be Mestizo. She would tell us how her Indigenous father and European mother always taught her kindness. If she quizzed us on something, the right answer would be rewarded with a couple of Balboas (Panamanian coins). Nana loved her homeland and so when she asked that we all go there for her 95th birthday on April 2nd, we were all in.

The plan was for us to gather at the family home and spend a couple of nights before heading for the airport. My mother’s sisters and their families still live in Panama and they were going to meet us at the airport. Four generations of the Moolchan family were going to descend on that place like the Von Trapps on steroid.

My mother asked if I could come the week before to help her get the house ready for the family sleepover. I agreed, of course, because as she put it, “Nana misses you.” 😊

Our house is huge: eight bedrooms, six and a half baths, and a big backyard. Most summers were spent here with my cousins. My nieces and nephews ranged in age from toddlers to teens. This should be interesting because I live alone in a 350sf studio. Truth be told, I was looking forward to bonding with all of them. After all, I wasn’t much older than the teens and we would do well—as long as they respected my me time.

My mother and I buzzed around the house getting the bedrooms ready and just a general tidying up of the place. I figured it would take a day of cleaning and then Nana and I could have some alone time before the others arrived. 😇

The day after I arrived, Mickie and Rita got here with Sydney, 12 and Charley, 11. Although my sister was born Francis Michelle, she insists on being called Mickie. Her professional name is Dr. F. Michelle Connors. She’s a child psychologist in Los Angeles. I’m pretty sure she’s got unresolved childhood issues and is working them out with the help of her little patients. I’m also certain her wife, Rita, insisted they come early and help with the house. I’m glad Syd and Charley have two mothers and are well-balanced.💪🏽

The next to arrive was Michael and his children: Sasha, Raphael, Olivia, and Bella (ages 13, 11, 9, and 7, respectively). Michael is an architect and works mostly at home, so he’s very good with children. Pilar, his wife, is a surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She'll meet us in Panama in a few days.

We were getting worried about David and Sarah, but they made it the day before we were to leave. Ian and Jack, their three-year-old twins, were in tow. David just got his dream job with HGTV as a general contractor on one of the home redo shows. Kudos, dude!👍🏽

On the day of our departure, Michael got a call from Pilar and he turned on GMA. Pilar told us about a deadly virus, COVID-19, that had already killed thousands of people. She said her hospital was overrun with patients suffering from this deadly virus. She suggested that we consider postponing the trip for a few months. As we followed the story on TV, we saw mass hysteria throughout the world. This was a pandemic and the only person who didn’t seem concerned by this was the U.S. president. Hmmm...

We all started calling our friends and workplaces for local information. I called Ruthie, who was taking care of my plants and Rufus, my pug. She said Broadway went dark. (Shit just got real.)

Mickie and Rita called the airport for a flight back home. So did Michael. They all rationalized that getting a flight before air travel was impacted would be best. My mother suggested they leave the kids since it was spring break. Whoa, Nellie! Leave their kids?! I mean I love them, but without parents, they’re bound to become different people. And why is Michael leaving? He’s a work-at-home dad! But as he put it, this was bound to be stressful for Pilar and he wanted to support her. Whatever...

David and Sarah tried to get a flight back to Quebec, but international flights were already grounded. Michelle and Rita got back to LA and Michael got back to Baltimore just before domestic travel was impacted.

I am here with eight kids, a brother who believes he's funny and his wife who thinks his corny jokes are side-splitters. This was not the vacay I had envisioned.🤬

Nana and my mom were up every morning to get breakfast started. My dad disappeared into his office after breakfast, and I'm not sure where David was during the day. Sarah and I helped with the kids’ breakfast and lunch, but I was off duty when David Muir came on.😍

This virus thing was becoming major. Pilar sent us some official-looking face masks and told us to wear them if we needed to go out. She said to wipe down all surfaces with Lysol. We were told to quarantine the family and have groceries delivered, when possible. It was beginning to look like this was going to be the arrangement for quite some time.

Nana’s birthday was spent in the backyard with kids running amuck. It wasn’t Panama, but maybe next year.

Weeks turned into months and the kids were handling things well, as long as they could FaceTime with their parents. Education became almost nonexistent. Mostly the kids just read books and listened to stories Nana told.

Summer was supposed to be a fun time, but the nation was in turmoil with racial tension. Since we are a multiracial family, many discussions were held about racism and how the police seem to treat people of color differently than whites. Raphael remembered that he is older than Tamir Rice was when he was killed by police. Charley said, “We should all be the kind of person our dogs think we are.” Although we couldn’t attend, they made posters for the George Floyd march. Sasha suggested a drive-by. He explained that we could all get in the car and drive to the rally, holding our signs out of the windows. (Oh, that drive-by.)😓

Education reared its head again in August. Michael and Mickie sent school laptops and instructions for the kids to start virtual learning. (This should be fun.) The kids were happy to be away from home. Sydney looked at it as a boarding school. (Apparently, she's never been.)

The learning curve for online school proved challenging for all of us. The dining room became the education center so each student could have their own space. Somehow, I became headmistress of the virtual learning center. I mainly made sure they stayed on task and answered a few of their questions. Thank God these kids are good students.😎

While they did their schoolwork, I wrote in my black notebook. I always used a notebook to write ideas for screenplays, but this pandemic forced me to start journaling. This got my feelings on paper and out of my head.

I got a few more notebooks from Amazon and gave one to Sarah so she could journal if she felt the need.

When things got tough for the kids, a call to their parents helped. My dad sprung for a bunch of movie subscriptions like Netflix, Disney+, and some other subscriptions he doesn’t know he’s paying for. JoJo Siwa gear started showing up and a trampoline found its way to our backyard so the kids wouldn’t realize that they haven’t left the house in months. Although they have invaded her sacred space, Nana seems to be in heaven as she watches and listens to the laughter.

All holidays are spent gathered around the big screen TV in the den. (David watched a YouTube video on how to view Zoom meetings on TV.) No more huddling to see the computer screen.

We dressed in costumes and carved pumpkins for Halloween. The kids went from room to room, knocked on the closed door, and yelled “Trick or Treat.”

David took it too far with his makeup. Bella slept with me that night.

At Christmastime, the kids helped mom and Nana decorate the tree, then dad loaded them up in the SUV and drove around town to see Christmas lights. (Another drive by.)

The night before Christmas was spent on a Zoom call to all the parents as well as Sarah’s parents. The kids seemed to take it well when their parents told them their presents would be waiting for them when they got back home. Surprise!! They woke up to tons of gifts with their names on them under the tree!

The day after Christmas I saw Sarah crying in her room. David lost his job last month. She showed me in the notebook where she and David were logging their job-hunting efforts. Nana saw us crying and gave Sarah a comforting hug. I remember her saying, “You can't pray and worry, child. They’re mutually exclusive.”

On New Year’s Eve, the teens, tweens, and I went downstairs, got our champagne flutes, and filled them with soda and sparkling water. We ate lots of hors d’oeuvres: Nana’s empanadas and frozen pizza. I Face Timed with Ruthie so she and Rufus could join us. We donned our party hats and watched the ball drop all over the world. Sydney kept us informed on which country was celebrating and we toasted each of them.

We listened to Pandora and I was introduced to K-Pop and they were introduced to Lenny Kravitz. We danced and reveled until they got sleepy about 3:15 am. As I was cleaning, Sasha and Sydney came back down. They didn’t say a word; just helped me load the dishwasher. As we went to bed, we had a group hug and parted ways. I will admit, that was the best New Year’s Eve party I’ve been to in a long time.

On New Year’s Day, David and Sarah had an announcement for the family. They're pregnant! (What, no job announcement? 😮) The kids began chanting “Cousin! Cousin! Cousin!” Everybody was ecstatic and it became noisy.

Nana went to her room. When she came back, she handed David an envelope. When he opened it, there was a check for $20,000! 💰 Sarah cried again, but now I think it’s just hormones.

It’s been almost a year since our “pod” was formed. With effective vaccines on the horizon, Michael and Mickie are making plans to reunite their families. David and Sarah have decided to stay here in the family home until their new arrival comes--and he gets a job.😐

Nana received her first vaccination and is scheduled for the second in three weeks. She says that will be her birthday gift. My cousins in Panama are making a video for her so she can “visit” Panama whenever she wants. I’m buying colorful masks for her. Nana loves vibrancy.

I can hardly wait to get back to Rufus and see Broadway light up again. Maybe when the world is vaccinated against COVID-19, racism, homophobia, and all things that hinder our humanity, we can try this trip thing again. Until then, I’ll miss my family. I hope they miss me.❤️