Meet Lucas Rodriguez (he/him), a policies contract manager for NYS. Like many of us, his life has been flipped inside out this past month- but for him with COVID-19 in his own home, to adjusting to a learning curve of a new work environment. “I won’t forget staying up till my eyes couldn’t stay open any more making sure she was breathing. I could hear her lungs crackle every time she took a breath but since we were told at the hospital to just wait it out there was nothing we could do.” Lucas told me about his wife Katie, whom had contracted the novel coronavirus in mid March. She was not the only one - “a few days later, (from his Katie’s diagnosis) my sister-in-law and her wife came down with it (COVID-19). Only this time one of them had asthma. She ended up in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator for three days. She was the first person in her condition that walked out of St. Peter’s surviving the virus.” After my conversation with Lucas, it it became abundantly clear how grateful this pandemic has made him - and in relation to our last interview Rebecca - slowing down and savoring the moment has become a common theme. We as humans crave connection, and when that’s taken away from us, we have to keep positive and appreciate what we can do - check in and build a stronger bond with those whom we love. “I feel like this situation we are in has brought me closer to family. I FaceTime with my sister at least once a day, which has really helped. It also has showed me how lucky I am that I married someone who puts up with my horrible taste in music, tv, and movies.” Lucas works with policies for NYS as part of his job, but when it comes to policies around this pandemic, it’s a different perspective. “Policies can change VERY quickly. I do not like living in the grey zone of life. We were not set up to work remotely, the guidance was changing hourly and when we were told to work from home, we had limited access to all of our files which made work harder and took more time to get anything done. After about two weeks we all had remote access to our computers. I try to make sure I am working just as hard at home as I would be at work. We do have a group chat where in the morning we all say “hi” and in evening we say “goodbye”. But other than that, it is business as usual. ” He has a new coworker, Hudson pictured above.
Speaking of work, Lucas’ wife had just opened a hair salon - The Alchemists - and is now closed until the state reopens.
What the Rodriguez family teaches us is to not lose hope, connect with each other, check in, and don’t be afraid to listen to “bad” music, watch nonsense TV, and most importantly, keep positive.
// Please note all quoted statements above are those of Mr. Rodriguez and not reflective of his employer or Faiella Studios.