MASKS: In the name of love

When I was 2 my father faced death for me. He was diagnosed with a severe type of cancer. Instead of taking drugs to make him comfortable, he decided his daughter needed a father and fought. Two years of hair loss and vomiting later, he won.

He won that fight, and every night he read to me. We had water fights, and grape ball games (which my mom still doesn’t know about), and lots of milkshakes. He helped me through calculus; he helped me through heartbreak.

However, it turns out you cannot get that close to death without cost. Gradually, my father’s body began to break down. Last year my family made the heart-breaking decision to move my dad to an assisted living facility in Post Falls.

Now that facility has COVID. I am scared for my father. I feel helpless.

But there is one action I can take. I can wear a mask, not because of what a politician says, but because it helps my father and others like him.

Here’s the thing: My father is not alone in his extraordinary love for his family. I see the way other parents look at their children, the way siblings support each other, the way spouses hold hands. Extraordinary love is everywhere, at all ages, in all types of health. Protect that love. Wear a mask.

SUZANNE MILLER

Littleton, Colo.