Friday, July 17, 2020

2020 Summed Up

Guess this about sums up 2020 so far: WOW it is only half way through JULY!
๐Ÿคท๐Ÿผ‍♀️๐Ÿค”
Dear Diary 2020 Edition,
In ❄️ January, ๐Ÿ”ฅ Australia caught on fire. I don’t even know if that fire was put out, because we straight up almost went to war with Iran ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท . We might actually still be almost at war with them ๐Ÿค”. I don’t know, because ๐Ÿ‘ฉ Jen Aniston and ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿป Brad Pitt spoke to one another at an awards ๐Ÿ† show and everyone flipped the crap out ๐Ÿ˜ฒ, but then there was this thing happening in ๐Ÿฆ‡ ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China, then ๐Ÿ‘‘ Prince Harry and Megan ✌๐Ÿผ peaced out of the Royal family, and there was the whole impeachment trial ๐Ÿ‘ฉ‍⚖️ , and then corona virus ๐Ÿฆ  showed up in the US ✔️“officially,” but then ๐Ÿ€ Kobe died ๐Ÿ˜ญand UK ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง peaced out of the European Union.
In February, ๐ŸŒฝ Iowa crapped ๐Ÿ’ฉ itself with the caucus results and the president was acquitted and the ๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿผ‍๐Ÿ’ผSpeaker of the House took ten. Whole. years. to rip up a speech , but then The๐Ÿ‘จ‍๐Ÿ”ฌ ๐ŸŒŽWHO decided to give this virus a name COVID-19, which confused ๐Ÿค”some really important people ๐Ÿ‘” in charge of, like, our lives, into thinking there were 18 other versions before it, but then Harvey Weinstein was found guilty๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿป‍⚖️, and ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Americans started asking if Corona beer ๐Ÿบ was safe to drink๐Ÿคฆ๐Ÿป‍♀️, and everyone on Facebook became a doctor ๐Ÿ‘จ‍⚕️ who just knew the ๐Ÿค’flu like killed way more people than COVID 1 through 18.
In March, stuff hit the fan๐Ÿ‘ฟ. Warren dropped out of the presidential race and Sanders was like Bernie or bust ๐Ÿ’ฅ, but then Italy ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น shut its whole country down ๐Ÿšท, and then COVID Not 1 through 18 officially become what everyone already realized, a ๐Ÿ˜ฑpandemic and then a nationwide state of emergency ๐Ÿ†˜was declared in US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ , but it didn’t really change anything, so everyone was confused or thought it was still just a flu ๐Ÿ’๐Ÿป‍♀️, but then COVID Not 18 was like ya’ll not taking me seriously? ๐Ÿ’ก I’m gonna infect the one celebrity everyone loves and totally infected Tom Hanks๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿป, get y’all to close all of the schools so y’all can ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿผ appreciate teachers ๐Ÿ‘ฉ‍๐Ÿซ for once (because you can’t teach them anything other than how to use a touch screen๐Ÿคฆ๐Ÿป‍♀️ ) close down all of salons so you can’t get your ๐Ÿ’‡‍♂️ hair or your nails done๐Ÿ’… , everyone had to work from home and attend Zoom meetings in their underwear. The ๐Ÿ“‰ DOW took a crap ๐Ÿ’ฉ on itself, and most of us still don’t understand why the stock market is so important or even a thing ๐Ÿค” (I still don’t), We were then all introduced to ๐Ÿ… Tiger King and the ONE thing we can all agree on this year , ๐Ÿ‘๐ŸผCarol totally killed her husband⚰️ ..... whacked him! And then Netflix was like you’re welcome, and we all realized there was no way we were washing our hands enough in the first place because all of our hands are now dry and gross and were all searching for lotion now.
In ๐ŸŒง April, Bernie finally busted✌๐Ÿผ himself out of the presidential race ๐Ÿƒ , but then NYC ๐Ÿ—ฝbecame the set of The Walking Dead ๐Ÿ’€ and we learned that no one has face masks ๐Ÿ˜ท, ventilators, or toilet paper, or THE FREAKING SWIFFER WET JET LIQUID , and by now our ๐Ÿฆoutgrowth is showing, so there’s a shortage on ๐Ÿ“ฆ box hair dye and all of our hair dressers are like , ๐Ÿ˜ฑ NO DONT DO IT!!! But, then Kim Jong-Un died, but then he came back to life … or did he? Who knows, because then the Pentagon released ๐ŸŽฅ videos of UFOs and nobody cared, and we were like man, it’s only April….
In ๐Ÿ’ May, the biblical end times kicked off , historical locust swarms, we learned of murder hornets ๐Ÿ and realized that 2020 was the start of the Hunger Games๐Ÿ™ˆ however people forgot to let us know. people legit started to protest lockdown measures with ๐Ÿ”ซ AR-15s, ๐Ÿ€⚾️sports events were cancelled everywhere. But then people all over America finally reached a breaking point with race issues and violence. There were ๐Ÿ—ฃprotests in every city๐ŸŒƒ ,which was confusing to some of us because people were definitely gathering in ๐Ÿ‘ซcrowds of more than ๐Ÿ–๐Ÿผ๐Ÿคš๐Ÿผ10 and for sure closer than 6 foot away ⬅️➡️from each other . Those people must have forgotten about the ๐Ÿ˜–pandemic called COVID Not One Through 18. Media ๐Ÿ“บ ๐Ÿ—ž struggled with how to ๐Ÿคฌfocus on two important things at once, people in general struggle to focus on more than one important thing. A dead whale ๐Ÿ‹ was found in the middle of the Amazon rain forest ๐ŸŒณ after monkeys ๐Ÿ’ stole COVID 1 Through 19 from a lab ๐Ÿ”ฌ and ran off with them, and either in May or April (no one is keeping track of time now) that a giant asteroid ☄️ narrowly missed the Earth๐ŸŒ.
In ☀️ June, common sense just got thrown ๐Ÿคพ๐Ÿผ straight out the window and somehow ๐Ÿ˜ท wearing masks became a ๐Ÿ›political thing, but then everyone sort of remembered there was a pandemic, then ๐Ÿ‘จ‍๐Ÿ”ฌscientists announced they found a mysterious undiscovered mass at the center of the earth, and everyone was like ๐Ÿ™…๐Ÿฝ‍♂️๐Ÿ™…๐Ÿป‍♀️๐ŸšงDON’T YOU DARE TOUCH IT, but then everyone took a pause to realize that people actually believed Gone With The Wind ๐Ÿ’จ was like non-fiction, but then it was also announced that there is a strange ๐Ÿ›ฐradio signal coming from somewhere in the universe ๐ŸŒŒ that repeats itself every so many days ๐Ÿ—“ , and everyone was like ๐Ÿ‘ฝ DON’T YOU DARE ATTEMPT TO COMMUNICATE WITH IT‼️๐Ÿšซ but then America reopened ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿผfrom the shut down that actually wasn’t even a shut down, and so far, things have gone spectacularly .... not that great ๐Ÿ‘Ž๐Ÿผ. All of the Karen’s came out at once, and people started tearing down ๐Ÿ”จ statues. Everyone is on Facebook arguing ๐Ÿคผ‍♀️ about masks ๐Ÿ‘ƒ๐Ÿผ, but then Florida ๐Ÿ– was like hold my beer ๐Ÿบ and let me show you how we’re number one ๐Ÿฅ‡ in all things, including new Not Corona Beer Coronavirus. Then we learned there was a massive dust cloud ☁️ coming straight at us ๐Ÿ“from the Sahara Desert ๐Ÿซ , which is totally normal, but this is 2020, so the ๐Ÿ‘ป ghost mummy thing is most likely in that dust cloud. We then ๐Ÿ“š learned of meth-gators ๐ŸŠ , and I'm like that is so not on my flipping 2020 Bingo card ๐Ÿ˜ก can we use it as the free space?? ๐Ÿคท๐Ÿป Then we learned that the Congo's worst ever Ebola ๐Ÿšจ outbreak is over ๐Ÿ˜“, and we were all like, there was an Ebola outbreak that was the worse ever? ๐Ÿ‘€ ....... and don’t forget we just discovered FLYING SNAKES! ๐Ÿ, seriously! FLYING SNAKES!!!!
So here comes July…. at this point we are over it , just tell us what’s next .... ๐Ÿ‘ฝ Aliens? ๐Ÿ”ฑZeus? ☄️ Asteroids? Artificial Intelligence becomes self aware? Can it just be something cool ๐Ÿ˜Ž or fun for once? Maybe even a good laugh , like hahaha ๐Ÿ˜‚ April Fools! We all actually wouldn’t mind that joke at this point.
Also, why didn't I know about the whale in the Amazon? Or a few other things because I just can’t keep up anymore!
But I’m sharing it because as long as we make it through 2020, I really want this to pop back up in the memories a few years from now. ๐Ÿ—“
Author unknown ๐Ÿคท๐Ÿผ‍♀️

Monday, July 13, 2020

Panel Discussion Replay: Life in a Black World

Panel Discussion Replay: Life in a Black World

If you missed my panel discussion - Life in a Black World, here is the replay. Please share. Further Discussion coming soon

https://youtu.be/Wk490pJ5ADM


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Wednesday, July 08, 2020

The Greatest Man I Never Knew...

He was the greatest man I never knew. Every time I hear that song, I think of him.

"The greatest man I never knew lived just down the hall,
and ev'ry day we said hello but never touched at all.
He was in his paper. I was in my room.
How was I to know he thought I hung the moon?"


For me, he was the only dad I ever knew.

To me, Lewis Berg was not my stepfather. He was not just some guy my mom married. He was my dad. I always feel odd trying to explain that though when many knew my father passed away when I was ten. Now they ask, you had two dads? Yes. I was blessed with two fathers.

My biological father, Art passed away as a janitor from a scaffolding accident putting up a high school scoreboard in 1980. I was at the age of ten. I did not grieve until I was the age of 13. It never felt real until one Thanksgiving in 1983.

Lewis Beg passed away on the 4th of July, 2020 of natural causes because of lung cancer, black lung, and breathing issues.

He was the only father I ever knew.

He and mom married when I was thirteen, the year of 1983. I pouted all the way through the ceremony. In our pictures, I am pouting. I didn't want a new dad. I wanted my dad.

Many years later, was when I acknowledged him as my dad, but he always WAS my dad.

He bought me my first ten-speed bike.

 The bike was the start of our relationship. When my mother and he were dating he brought me a bright red big kid bike. A ten-speed. I barely could ride with the seat all the way down but I didn't care. I rode it everywhere and had it until I was 18 years old.

He was my chauffeur.

He took me to dance, ballet, or modern, or jazz or ice skating, or gymnastics. He took me to modeling classes, baton classes, etiquette classes, choir, bells, whatever I was in, he was my ride.

He was my referee.

He always stepped in when mom would be really upset with me about something. HE knew mom's temper could fly off the handle and I was always so sensitive that he wanted to protect me.

He was my friend.

We went to Golfland almost every weekend. We had a pinball machine in our house for many years and we would battle to see who had to do the dishes! He told silly dad jokes and many Norwegian Ole and Lena jokes. We would do funny little skits back and forth and mom would hake her head and roll her eyes.

My favorite was one of two old deaf guys talking on the porch


"You think that's sufficient?"
"You say you went fishing?"

"You say that's plenty?"
"You caught twenty?"

"You poor deaf sole!"
"You lost your pole?"

then together we made up one to add...

"Are you for real?"
"You lost your creel?"

Mom would roll her eyes and dad and I would laugh and laugh. my husband and I do the skit to this day. It will be a fun way I will always remember him.

He taught me to crack my knuckles, take things apart and not know how to put them back together (my mother hated that) and he taught me how to enjoy family time by playing Yahtzee or Dominoes or cards. In the past few years, I knew he was not well when he refused to play Yahtzee with me anymore.

He tried to teach me to drive a stick and after an hour dropping the clutch and getting stuck in traffic, as we were trying to get gas down the street from where we lived, I could not get the car up the driveway to the gas station and got so mad I put it int park and told him I would meet him at home. He teased me for years about that and never let me forget it. It was a funny story, we always shared.


As an adult, my life took many turns and he was always there for me. Sometimes being the dad chastising me for my bad choices and in his Norwegian way, telling me "get my shit together" and in other ways bailing me out or being there as I cried about things I was going through to him and mom.

We have had our ups and downs as all families do and yet we always end up speaking to each other again and moving on in our lives. No matter what, he was there for me.

When I found out I had cancer the first time, right away he told me to come to see them. I went down right after my port was installed before I started chemo. You could tell it was hard on him to see me suffering.

When my second cancer came, 18 months after being in remission, once again, he wanted to see me. He did all he could to be there for me and help me. He always was there for me, even if he never said. Many times I would find out through my mom because that's just the way he was. He may not have always been the one to tell me, but I knew.

Just like I knew that he loved me, though he didn't ay it often. He would hug me, or make jokes with me, we would make sure my tires were full of air or check the oil, things dads do.

I knew, however, that he thought I hung the moon.

I was his "Gold Turd" as the family would often joke.

My mother and I have spoken daily in these last days leading up to his passing and now every night since his passing. She told me last night how he would tell everyone that would come in about something I gave him or something I did. No one could leave the house without knowing or hearing about me someway somehow.

While we as daughters know our fathers love us, hearing this touched my heart deeply.

He was my dad.

and now he is gone.

My heart is sad but my memories of our relationship will live on forever...