A coronavirus want list

As COVID-19 continues to spread throughout New York, it's a good time to take stock and realize the little things from life that we miss. 

I want to pay $3 a gallon for gas, or even more.

I want to spend an hour on the Long Island Expressway to get to the 59th Street Bridge from Syosset, not 27 minutes.

I want to be angry at the Long Island Rail Road for delaying trains due to signal problems.

I want to sit in a massive traffic jam on the Cross Bronx Expressway on a steaming July afternoon, en route to one of the most special places on earth, Saratoga Springs, for horse racing season.

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I want alternate-side of the street parking to be in effect in New York City.

I want to go to our office on West 31st Street and get the morning food supplies from our “cart guy” on the corner.

I want to go to Nile’s on Seventh Avenue every Friday after work with my best friend Kevin Mangan, and I want to watch March Madness games on the TV screens even though we really don’t like college basketball.

I want to talk about the Masters, and I want to root for Tiger Woods to defend his title.

I want to think about our coverage of the New York GAA, and hope our correspondent will commit to another summer of Sundays in Gaelic Park.

I want to see the first woman chairperson of the New York GAA, the passionate Joan Henchy, make her imprint and whip the new Gaelic Park facility into shape.

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I want to go to the Kerry Hall in Yonkers for the annual Kerry Ball with my 94-year-old Aunt Nora, the shining star of our family and a proud native of Rathmore in Kerry.

I want to bring my aunt to JFK for her flight to Shannon next month for a weeklong trip to Kerry that she had planned, all by a very fit self, to socialize with her remaining family/friends, play cards, and have a Scotch or two.

I want to hug my aunt, and her daughter Tree, both of whom are in total quarantine and will be for the foreseeable future.

I want to see the new addition to our extended family, Baby David as I call him in homage to his dad’s favorite Dave Matthews Band, in person rather than via FaceTime; he is due around Mother’s Day in New York City.

I want to see Elton John at Madison Square Garden next month with my friend Merle, and I want to see Billy Joel there in May.

I want Senator Rand Paul to resign; ditto any of the self-dealing senators who sold stock prior to the widespread outbreak of the coronavirus.

I want New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to be president.

I want President Trump’s early AM Twitter feed to revert to the good old days of Mueller conspiracy theories, the Russian hoax, impeachment, Mini Mike, Sleepy Joe, etc.

I want to binge-watch House Hunters on HGTV or Derry Girls on Netflix, and not CNN.

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I want to smack the shoppers at Stop & Shop who complain that the only brand of toilet paper left is the store label and not Cottonelle.

I want, so very much, for the Irish Voice to survive, and for all of our Irish small businesses throughout America to make it through these deeply unsettling times.

I want each and every Irish Voice advertiser, supporter, subscriber and reader to know how profoundly grateful we are for your support these past 33-plus years of publishing, and that with your continued backing we’ll be sticking around for a good while longer.

And what I want most of all is to wish each and every one of you good health in these incredibly scary times. 

We are Irish. We are American. We are Irish American. We are tough.  But what we need to do now is take care and hunker down until we can emerge and start supporting each other as we always do. 

We should proudly recall the enormous resilience of our ancestors, the ones who crossed the stormy Atlantic in the Famine ships, the ones who came here desperate and penniless and then started to build America.  They were, and will forever be, superheroes. 

We stand on their shoulders.  And there’s no doubt … we won’t let them down.

With Love and Much Gratitude,

Debbie McGoldrick

Senior Editor

Irish Voice

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