John Clark with another chapter in how we’re all getting through this crazy time. Beth and I are extremely blessed to have two smart and loving daughters, Sara, 38 and Lisa, 35. Sure, they had their sibling squabbles growing up, but as adults, they’ve supported and wanted the best for each other. When Piper was born six years ago, Lisa was thrilled to have a niece. She and Piper have had a great connection ever since. When Reid was born last November, Lisa was thrilled again, but she had her own secret that wasn’t ready to share until Christmas.

One of our presents that morning was a copy of an ultrasound. It was our first inkling a second granddaughter was on the way. Sometime in mid July she’ll arrive in Port Chester, NY. A name, if any has been selected yet, hasn’t been shared, but that’s another thing to anticipate.

Lisa is a teacher at PS 236, Langston Hughes Elementary School in the Bronx. She began there several years ago, teaching fourth grade literacy. She has since changed to teaching fifth grade math. Her classrooms always look good, often modeled after a bookstore and in the years she’s taught, Lisa has given hundreds of books to her students so their reading skills don’t deteriorate over summer breaks. She even started a lunchtime book group for some of her students when they expressed an interest.

Both times big sister Sara was expecting, Lisa was integral in making certain she had a great baby shower. When it came time for Sara, Beth, and Lisa’s high school friend Miranda to plan one for her, darn near everything conspired to prevent it from happening. There was the distance issue. Lisa loves coming home with her first rescue dog, Tater, but early warnings about the Covid-19 virus threat, coupled with difficulty driving for seven hours without stopping, crimped any trip home, not to mention the extra time she had to put in preparing lessons and getting up to speed teaching online. The latter while husband Sam was tearing out walls so a nursery would be ready in time.

It took a while to put Plan B in place, as it had to be done through a mix of phone calls, text messages and emails, but things finally fell into place for an online virtual shower on April 11^th. Then mother nature decided to throw a monkey wrench in the works by dropping lots of wet snow, followed by high winds, leaving more than 200,000 Mainers without power.

Hi from Sister Kate

Even that wasn’t enough to prevent things from going forward. We had a generator and a hookup capable of meeting our electrical needs. Sara, Russ, Piper, and Reid came up from Belgrade because they had no internet access. The house was decorated with Lisa’s choice of a Harry Potter theme, and we soldiered on. Sadly, several of the people who wanted to participate weren’t able because they still lacked power, but folks from four states (California, Maine, Massachusetts, and New York) shared Lisa’s joy while she opened gifts, chatted with everyone, and had the best possible time given the circumstances. Hope you enjoy the pictures and stay tuned to learn our soon to arrive granddaughter’s name.

Three generations here.