Guest Dispatch by Amaia Catan
Edited by Richard Grinker
***
For Page Hawk, 2020 began like any other year, with the exception, she told me, “of massive construction at Ingleside and the rapid spread of COVID-19.” Hawk spent the majority of her life in Washington, DC. She described her decision to move into independent living at Ingleside as a practical one. “We moved here to socialize,” she told me matter-of-factly. “Back in 2020, there was a new director at Ingleside. His name was Felix. He was quite strict with us about social distancing and
following the rules.”
Felix was particularly concerned about the committees at Ingleside, small groups that meet and focus on a particular cause. In her 25 years at Ingleside, Hawk belonged to several committees. “It keeps us young. I’m 98 years old, you know.” She chuckled as she registered the shocked look on my face.
“Anyway, we all resented this strict director, but, looking back, we think he did the right thing. We had very little problems with Covid,” she said. “My building has a long history of getting together every night at 5 o’clock for a drink in the lounge, but we couldn’t do that for a time. Later on, someone discovered a mask [for sale] online with a hole in it where we could fit a straw. Felix saw a bunch of us in the lounge with our drinks and our masks, and sighed, “I give up, you win.”
Towards the end of our conversation, I noticed a photograph of a young man standing next to a canoe. My curiosity got the best of me, and I asked her about the man in the picture. She said it was her husband, “a radio operator in the Air Force during the war.” It took me far too long to realize she meant World War II. “He was stationed in London, Paris, and Cairo. Transporting men or Coca-Colas or whatever needed transporting.” Her eyes lingered on the photo, and, for a moment, I realized her mind was elsewhere. I saw the corners of her eyes crinkle in a smile before she turned back to me.
“We had a good, good marriage.” I left Page Hawk’s apartment wondering what it might be like to live through a world war and a global pandemic. What it might be like to experience ten decades of life. I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts, I managed to forget my umbrella in her apartment, oblivious to the never-ending rain that poured outside.