Raimee, Midland County

Storyteller: Madison Wagner

Raimee is a 42 year old Registered Nurse working as the Director of Case Management for MidMichigan Health. In early March she remembers hearing about Covid from other leaders that there was concern with the virus spreading in the U.S. Raimee’s day to day life changed firstly by having her two children going completely online in the middle of March for the rest of the school year. It was a huge change for her and her family and required a lot of juggling and responsibilities. In addition her husband had to work from home and that required to set up a place for that to happen. In all of this she has gained a better appreciation for the time that she has with her family. When they originally went on lockdown due to the stay at home orders, her family spent all of their time together. She told me that it was nice to go back to that and not have to compete with priorities such as extracurricular activities, spending time with friends, and traveling. Raimee feels like she has lost a lot with Covid. She told me she lost a lot of time with family that she would normally see all the time, but due to Covid she has tried to spend more time apart to keep everyone safe. Her aunt has terminal cancer and due to Covid, she was not able to travel and spend time with her family. Raimee feels she won’t get the time with her before she passes. She has lost the ability to separate being a mom and an employee now that she has to work from home, and her kids have to receive their education at home as well. Know she is balancing being a mom, employee, and a teacher. She told me the face masks have taken away her ability to show facial expressions which is a way that she commonly expresses herself. She typically smiles at people as she takes her daily walks, and now they can’t tell she is smiling. She feels like it’s just blank eyes staring back at each other and she hates that, she feels people are losing their connection to others. As an Air Force veteran she has a hard time with the mandates that has been forced upon us because it goes against everything she has stood for, but she also understands it’s for the greater good.