Dear Home

What’s your home vibe right now, 76 days into quarantine?  Hold that answer.  

My mother just told me that my grandmother, Mildred Yoder of Middlebury, IN lived through the Spanish flu of 1918, the deadliest pandemic in human history. She was a little girl, 9 years old. How did I not know about this.

Referred to as “The Mother of All Pandemics” it was a deadly influenza of prodigious proportion that killed 50 million people worldwide, infected 500 mil (a third of the world’s population at the time) that hit in 3 waves over a short 15 month period from spring 1918 to early 1919. The devastating factor unique to The Spanish Flu was the high mortality rate in healthy young people aged 20-40. Our statistics are a bit different… but our stories are the same. 

I never loved history class. I had bad teachers (most were the school football coaches who would enter the classroom, turn off the lights, turn on a movie, all heads went down). They delivered dates and facts that were simply things that happened to other people. But this time is different, I want to know every detail…

I identify a lot with my grandmother Mildred. I have a lot of her traits. She was crafty – I love making stuff. She wrote for the local paper – I write for pubs too. She owned the local grocery store in her small town – I run a music fest in mine. She had a huge doll collection – I’m a collector too. So as I pictured my grandmother as a little girl from the photos I have of her in a white ruffled dress with lace collar and low sash, oversized hair bow clipped to the side of her head holding locks of ringlets, and pointed button toe shoes, I wanted to know more about that pandemic to help me understand – and picture - what life must have been like in their household during that horrific year. She loved people. I assume she was a busy little girl at 9, swirling with ideas and projects and make believe. How did she cope with the heaviness of hardship and loss?

I wish I could chat with Mildred now as I have a million questions about quarantine 1918. I asked my mom and her brothers for more of the story – they had nothing; a juxtaposition of today’s stories about what one had for breakfast.  I want to know: How did they survive? How did they get their information? How did they stay in touch with loved ones? How did they get medical treatment? Who was in charge? How did they stay sane? And foremost: what did they do all day during their quarantine at home? 

 I spent some time reading some published diaries from the Spanish Flu. Here’s what I learned: 

They were blindsided. The Spanish Flu fired in 3 waves in quick succession over 15 months; the first in spring, the second in fall, and the third – the most fatal - in early 1919, with very little quiescent downtime in between. They were upended. An unusual characteristic of this virus was the high death rate it caused among healthy adults 15-35 years of age, integral members of society, an unique phenomenon that’s still not fully understood. The pandemic lowered the average life expectancy in the United States by more than 12 years. 

What did one do at home in quarantine 1918?  They read books, no podcasts. They listened to ragtime radio, no Spotify. They wrote in diaries fountain pen to paper, no computer. They shared stories, no YouTube. They had streetcars, Model T’s, horse & buggies, no Uber.  Baseball stopped, no ESPN.  Silent movie theaters closed, no Netflix. Mailed letters, no facetime. Missed their friends, no zoom. One  newspaper, no CNN. Modern toaster, no microwave. Medicinal tinctures and ointments, no penicillin or anti-virals. Schools closed, no online learning. WW1 had 30% doctors, no medical staff with full PPE and N95s. They had community mitigation measures, no federal government centralized role. They had general stores, no take out. They had haberdasheries, no Amazon. They had prohibition, no mail order cases of merlot. They had to wait, no overnight shipping. No Nextdoor, no Craigslist, no workout equipment in the basement, no Twitter, no instant cameras, no texting, no Google information, NO CELL PHONE. 

You get my drift.

So now I ask you, what’s your home vibe right now? Probably like mine, it’s not perfect. But it’s more than I’d ever need. This week’s playlist honors house & home and the humans inside. I hope to provide solace and comfort to you. Click the link below and just listen.

DEAR HOME: YOU'VE BEEN VALSLISTED

PS:  Nancy Bristow, author of American Pandemic: The Lost Worlds Of The 1918 Influenza Epidemic, advises us to journal during this time of quarantine to share with the next generation. She urges us to include specific details that demonstrate how “you’re fitting into this world and the pandemic itself.” Include your thoughts about the virus’ impact in both public and personal spheres, the economy, political messaging, level of trust in the government and media, as well as “what’s happening in terms of relationships with family, friends, neighbors and colleagues.” Our story is our footprint in the past. We need to tell it. 

In Music,
Val