Five weeks of isolation and White House Briefings

It has been inspiring to see the global mass co-operation to social distance and stay in place to slow the spread of COVID. Inspiring and then, suddenly our "alone together" world became a place for introspection and reflection and for me in particular alone in a pleasant house in a gated community with Florida sunshine and a backyard pool, I have become painfully appreciative of my good fortune in life.  It is time, to once again, revisit the past and remember moments that shaped my life lived mostly in the last half of the 20th Century, and now twenty years (1/5  into the 21st Century) and send my perspectives to permanently float around in the universe of the 'inter web'.

I have turned to television to hear the daily Gov. Cuomo briefings, the daily White House Briefings, and TCM to watch movies and I suddenly realized that television has played an important role my entire life. Born in 1953, I remember Sunday evening as a special time when we watched Walt Disney and Ed Sullivan.  Sunday evening was an exciting night.  I didn't even realize that we were lucky to have a TV back in the 50's - but I thank my Mom and Dad, Latvian immigrants who arrived in Canada just two years before my birth.

Few stories were told about those early days, but I recall that my parents did have to work at the 'domestic jobs' that were assigned by the government in order to fulfil immigration requirements. Farm work for my mother, who did not have the physical stamina to meet her quota, and apparently a nice Russian woman would do the work for her, while my mom sat under a tree in the shade.  I never did learn more details like who looked after my sister when my mother was working, or how long did this domestic labour last.  I know that my father dug ditches in construction and that by 1953 my parents had saved enough money to purchase a house and a car. Two years.  They disembarked in Halifax in 1951 - given a loaf of white bread, $5.00 and a Bible. How they reached Ontario I will never know - I just know that by the time I was born on June 6, 1953 my parents had a house and a car.  By the time I was three, I have clear and vivid memories of watching TV in the recreation room on Sunday nights.  I remember the excitement and the good feeling of family and home.

Sunday night, TV night, and that is how I learned that my parents shaped my ideas on work, and saving and spending and that they gave me a happy childhood and that I didn't watch news when I was a kid.