Remote

Jarring. 

Ran into someone I once admired very much for her benevolence and equanimity, her grace under fire, coolness under pressure, and her constant humanity shown to those who need it most and get it least. Things have changed, she said. I'm no longer that jolly person you once knew. 

She and her family got their third Covid booster before traveling. Forty-eight hours later she found herself recovering from two heart attacks and learned that her husband and son had both died. 

I was looking at her on the screen. Oh no, I said. I'm sorry. Oh no. The words were terribly small. I felt impossibly far away.