As healthcare workers, we are doing what we have been trained to do -- what comes instinctively to the many who have heard a calling to care for their fellow human beings. COVID-19 has a lot of unknowns and is still evolving. Those in healthcare are navigating a delicate balance between being there for our families and answering our call of duty to care for our communities -- consciously separating ourselves from our loved ones, as our care of others puts those close to us at higher risk of exposure. While we know it is for the best, it’s a tough sacrifice.

At a University of Maine commencement years ago, a good friend, Al, received his Ph.D. and was “hooded” by my husband, his adviser. When Al’s name was called he made his way painfully across the stage on crutches, losing his mortarboard on the way. The entire audience let out a spontaneous “Oh.” Al received the loudest applause of the afternoon. 

Here’s a fun fact you might not know. Your “freedom of association” is not guaranteed specifically by name in the First Amendment. Don't believe me? Read it again.

State governments around the country have reacted differently to the COVID-19 pandemic and the threat it poses to people and to the economy. Many states -- Maine included -- took quick and decisive action to help stop the spread of the disease and to help people upended by job loss and financial instability caused by required physical distancing.

My old-style landline phone surprised me when it rang that night. I wasn't expecting a call. I really wasn't expecting a call from the caller: drummer Jim Gordon.

The coronavirus which originated in Wuhan, China is turning our lives upside down. Kids are at home instead of being at school; families can’t visit their aging parents and grandparents; and our economy is in trouble. Six short weeks ago our economy was the strongest in 50 years. Workers were taking home bigger paychecks, help wanted signs blanketed Maine, and our unemployment rate was the lowest ever recorded. 

I don't typically write follow up columns, but in this case I'm going to have to make an exception. A couple weeks ago, the column I wrote declared in rather concrete terms that I was not worried about the coronavirus. What I was more worried about than the virus, I said, was the impact that mass panic over the virus was having, and would continue to have, on society.

It’s time we retire the idea of “essential” and “nonessential” workers. If the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated anything, it’s that all the cogs in our economic machine are essential. Pull too many bits and pieces out, and the whole thing risks grinding to a halt.

Once I overheard a fellow genealogist complain that his family wasn’t interested in his research and all they wanted “was stories.” He was a “just the facts” genealogist and I sympathized with his family. Even I nod off when faced with a lengthy repetition of pages filled with nothing but names, birth, marriage and death dates.  

What a difference a day makes? Look what has happened in a week. Last week I wrote of the airlines, my bank, and the nearby farm store, doubling down on cleanliness as a precaution against coronavirus. I wrote also of local grocery shoppers hoarding toilet paper and soap.

One thing in this life is certain: if you are currently living through one of those, the other will come eventually. If an economic boom is happening, there will be an eventual slowdown and recession. If you are in the middle of economic calamity, there will come days when economic expansion happens again.

Earlier this week, the firm where I work presented a webinar in collaboration with the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce. The two-hour presentation was intended to provide some practical advice for companies that are trying to deal with the spread of the coronavirus and COVID-19. The webinar is free and you can watch it at: https://www.portlandregion.com.

As St. Patrick’s Day approaches we’re reminded that at least 33 million Americans of Irish descent live in the United States. 

A "psychic vampire" is "a person who gets increased energy around other people, but leaves those other people exhausted or drained of energy." The political class, and the class of now mislabeled political news reporters, are thick with psychic vampires.

In Maine, our natural resources are the foundation of our culture, our heritage, and passion -- and for many of us, the reason for choosing to live here. Likewise, the land base that supports our farming and fishing industries brings innumerable benefits to our everyday lives and our economy.

A new vaccine law was passed in the Legislature last session that removed the ability for parents to claim religious and philosophical exemptions to the required vaccines children need to obtain in order to enter schools. This makes the mandate impossible to get out of, unless you have medical reasons for not getting your children vaccinated.

So here it is. My last column before the March 3 election, and it’s time to come clean. Here’s the round up of my votes. I’m sharing them not because I think that you should vote the same way that I did, but because as I was making my decision, hearing and talking to others helped me make up my mind.

This year, 2020, I set personal goals. One goal is simple: keeping a list of books I read this year. The key is finding one convenient place to keep a running list, remembering to add to it as I finish reading each book.