This week has been hard.
We moved out of my beloved “Barbie House” right after the blizzard.
The snow and ice turned a one-day move into a two-day ordeal.
Throughout, I kept trying to keep things in perspective.
The day we began our move, temperatures in New Jersey hit the single digits. It was also International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Having visited Auschwitz twice, I couldn’t stop thinking about the victims who endured that same cold without heat, hot water, or warm clothing. It immediately reframed my “difficult move” from a crisis to a mere inconvenience.
But the hardest moment of this week was when our sellers called to tell us that Serafin, a man in his 50s, who had cleared the snow and tended the lawn for 17 years at our new home was detained by ICE and deported last week.
As a refugee myself, seeing people pulled from their communities is terrifying.
I’m really struggling but still looking for the good.
The brightest moment of my week was a call from my daughter, Arcadia. She told me about a resume writing workshop she led with ten colleagues at her consulting firm for refugees in Boston through The International Institute of New England.
Seeing courageous people in Minnesota stand up for the vulnerable and watching the next generation dedicate their time to refugees gives me hope in these chilling times.