I’ve been laying low on here lately, but wanted to share something special from the past week, a covid lemonade from lemons kind of story.

I was scheduled to take my internal medicine boards in NYC where I live, but bc of social distancing concerns, my spot was cancelled 1/

I was able to reschedule my test in upstate New York, near where I grew up and my parents still live in Saratoga Springs. This meant deciding to take the risk to see my parents. Thankfully, NY has controlled covid well, and I tested negative just last week. 2/

My biggest fear when covid began, and I began caring for patients with covid, was that I would never see my parents again. It wasn’t entirely rational, but it was the one fear that nestled deep inside me and could make me cry without warning. 3/

When I saw my parents last week, first my mom who picked me up from Manhattan, and then my dad, I just broke down and sobbed. We sat together on our back porch holding hands. I told them about my big fear. I thought they knew about it already, but hearing it was hard for them. 4/

They had read my articles about covid in NYC, so I thought they knew how hard it had been. They knew in a sense. But they didn’t know it viscerally until I sat there crying, so profoundly grateful to be with them, that they were simply alive. 5/

I’ve never felt gratitude quite like I felt this past weekend. I thought about posting here, but I needed to hold it close to my heart first, to keep it just to myself and to know that is enough. 6/

It was a really special time though, so I wanted to share... here’s the Saratoga Lake, my parents, some Saratoga horses, and tomatoes and basil from my parents garden.

Oh yea, and I took my boards