Caribbean Quarantine
Well, it has been a little over three weeks since we last emailed you. Life in St. Thomas is much the same with frogs in the shower, Face Time chats with family and friends to keep us sane, fresh air, cooking, and lizard entertainment on our porch. We are very grateful to be here and to be healthy now.
The week after our last email I was feeling pretty sad and Joel told me that we, as a species, are going to be collectively mourning and it is ok to feel grief at this time of massive loss. He read an article on NPR that I will recommend called, "Corona virus Has Upended Our World. It's OK To Grieve" by Stephanie O'Neill.
"'We need to recognize that mixed in with all the feelings we're having of anger, disappointment, perhaps rage, blame and powerlessness – is grief,' ...says interfaith chaplain and trauma counselor, Terri Daniel."
In the article they encourage us to name our losses and suggest four ways to honor our grief so that we can move forward in gratitude. I don't know about you, but I have been on a roller coaster of emotions and I am trying to ride the wave down and back up with a little help from good music, exercise, and an understanding and loving companion. I've included a link to the article here: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/26/820304899/coronavirus-has-upended-our-world-its-ok-to-grieve.
On April 7th we were scheduled to fly back to Nashville. After much agonizing deliberation and research we decided to extend our time in St. Thomas in order to "stay at home", hopefully protecting other people and ourselves to the best of our ability. It felt great to make the decision and I excitedly began to prepare a Passover meal for the next night. Then, that evening, we heard the news of John Prine passing due to COVID-19 complications.
As word of John's death ricocheted across the internet, a cloud of deep sorrow spread over us and so many music lovers around the world. Never in my life (since the first days of Instagram anyway) have I seen my feed become flooded so quickly with a single person's picture. I read heartfelt tributes to John Prine, the great american songwriter and yet, I could not post anything. Words escaped me, pictures made me sad. Because we didn't know what else to do, the next morning we hosted a "John Prine Sing-a-long" on our Facebook page. If you missed it or want to watch again, it is still up and we encourage you to go sing-a-long.
https://www.facebook.com/sallyandgeorgemusic/videos/674637046658876/
Joel began his own songwriting journey when he was about 13 years old and Mr. Prine inspired him from that time on. We continue to feel this loss in a profound way and we are so very grateful to have seen John Prine live at the Ryman Auditorium a couple years ago. He danced and swayed and charmed us with his witty words and adorable vibe. Rolling Stone published a beautiful story yesterday titled, "John Prine: The Last Days and Beautiful Life of an American Original". When you have a moment to read (and maybe cry... we are totally crying) please peruse this article. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/john-prine-last-days-beautiful-life-tribute-family-friends-bonnie-raitt-981646/
So, the roller coaster dips and dives and rises back up, and we are relying on music (coffee, chocolate, tequila, & exercise) to make it through. Because we are now in one place for the next three weeks we would like to introduce a weekly residency into your diet of live streams and entertainment to consume.You don't even have to leave the comfort of your sweatpants! Since we are coming to you live from the Caribbean we encourage you to grab a tropical beverage and tune in! The show will be streamed Wednesdays at 6pm EST at https://www.facebook.com/sallyandgeorgemusic/. The first one is TOMORROW!
We will have the tip jar open:
Venmo www.venmo.com/Shelby-Means (tips will go into the band account, don't worry)
paypal https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=AN97KZLCFN2VN&source=url.
Signing off until next time. Hope to see you tomorrow and the following two Wednesdays on Facebook! Much love, peace, and feeling of feelings to you.
Cheers,
Sally & George