michael barbaro

Hey, there. Its Michael.

This week, were revisiting people we met in the early weeks of the pandemic, listening back and hearing whats happened to them since our original conversations.

Today: Tilly Breimhorst.

Its Friday, July 17.

(SINGING) I am recording and it is working. Hey, Tilly?

Hi.

Hey, how are you?

Im doing OK.

Tilly, what is that in your hand? It looks like a blanket or a stuffed animal.

Its a blanket.

Oh, what does it say on it?

It says powered by pizza.

And does it look like it has an image of pepperoni pizza on it? Is that Im glimpsing?

Yeah, pepperoni.

Thats pretty great. Well, Tilly, I really want to thank you for getting on the phone with us, or I guess this Google Hangout with us. And I wonder if you could tell me your full name and how old you are?

Matilda Rose Breimhorst, and then I am 12.

Mm-hm. And I just want to start with a very simple question: How have you been feeling this past week?

Um, Im kind of in and out of moods usually. The two moods that Im mostly in are sad and angry.

And why do you think that youre sad and angry? What about?

I dont know were I feel like were sad and angry because I think angry more that its not fair that hes gone. And I feel like sad is really were sad that hes gone and sad that were being sad.

From The New York Times, Im Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily.

More than 50,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus. One of them was Craig Breimhorst.

Today, his granddaughter remembers him.

Its Friday, May 1.

I wonder if you could tell me a little bit about your grandfather. How would you describe your grandfather physically? What did he look like? What would he wear, those kind of things?

Um, well, hed wear pastor clothes and stuff.

Was he a pastor?

Yes, he was a pastor. He used to be a mail man, and then he didnt like that job.

Mm.

And he had white hair, and then the mustache that goes right into the beard.

Mm-hm.

And when I was little, I played with his beard because it just felt so interesting touching it with my hands.

What do you mean?

It felt all rough and scrapey, but like not too scrapey.

Hed wear glasses, and sometimes I stole his glasses. And he was like, Tilly, bring them back! And, like, whenever I walked into the house, hed just be like, Hoddy ho! I dont know where that came from, but it was just its always something he said.

Hoddy ho?

Hoddy ho.

Its more interesting than hello.

Yeah.

Did he have any kind of nickname for you?

Tilly B was my one.

Tilly B?

Yeah, cause for Breimhorst. They just called me Tilly B and and it kind of just rhymes.

Wait, what part? Which part rhymes?

Tilly, and then B. Its just kind of, like, it just goes together.

Hm.

Tilly B.

Tilly B.

Yeah.

And then hed always make me happy. Id never, like, really get upset around him, unless I was hurt.

Unless you were hurt, you said.

Yeah, because we did all sorts of crazy things.

Wait, now, I need to understand some of the crazy things you did with him.

Um, well, hed take me out on the roof. Once we brought sleeping bags on the roof.

The roof of your house?

No, my grandpas house, but we didnt tell my dad about it until afterwards.

Wow. It sounds like he has a slightly mischievous quality to him.

Yeah.

Can you tell me about that? What was that like?

Well, it would usually be like the middle of summer. And we would grab the stepladder, and open the window, pull up the screen, climb up onto the edge of the roof up to our special spot.

Just laid there on the roof. And we just looked at the stars and talked for a while.

What kinds of things would your grandfather say?

Um, Here, Tilly, lets look for the Big Dipper, maybe the Milky Way if were lucky, and Mars. I might be like, Wait, but isnt Mars a planet, not a star? He would just be like, But we can see it as a red star kind of.

Mm-hm.

The stars were really bright and it was really warm outside, and it was beautiful.

How often would you see your grandfather?

We wouldnt see him, like, every single weekend, but, like, wed see him a lot. Hed, like, come to my school and hed sit in the lunchroom with me.

Wow. He would just show up? Did he announce himself? Was it unexpected?

He would never tell me that he was coming. And hed just be waiting for me right next to the lunchroom door, just waiting for me. And then Id just look around for him every time.

Mm-hm.

Hed sit right next to me. And Id have my lunchbox and hed kind of just pick out things from it. Sometimes, hed take my chips, and Id be like, Papa! Hed talk to my friends. Hed talk about, like, all these fun things, like all his stories about, like, going to Tanzania and all sorts of things.

And what would you think when you saw him?

Um, I think Id be proud. Id be proud that my grandpa comes to my school a lot to just eat lunch with me and tell my friends all these stories.

Mm-hm.

He was just there right when I needed it, which made me feel really nice.

Yeah, I dont know a lot of grandpas or grandmas whod do that. Thats really special.

Yeah.

So I want you to tell me, if youre willing, the story of the last few weeks and what happened with your grandfather.

Yeah.

And I wonder I dont know where you think we should start.

Uh, I think we should, like, start from the beginning.

Um, so papa and my grandma went to the holy lands. He wanted to take his church group there.

So they went to the Middle East?

Yeah, where baby Jesus was born and like thats sort of the place. And then they got this warning there, an outbreak has started here of the coronavirus. And so when they came back, they were straight into quarantine. But right when they came back, papa started getting really ill. He had high fever, a really high fever. And in my mind, the first week he was home, I was like, Oh, hes fine. Hell get through this. Hes strong. But then he got worse and worse. And I was like, Oh, no, its going to happen. I was just kind of in a worried state, but like not like a oh, my gosh, Im really, really sad, that sort of thing, until a couple weeks later. He just couldnt do it and he got lifted to the hospital here.

And Tilly, were you talking to him during this time?

No, I didnt get to talk to him at all. I mean, we sent him, like, letters, but I dont know if he even got to read those.

I remember so when I heard about that he was put in the hospital cause it got worse, mom was like, do you want to sleep with one of his shirts? I was like, yeah. So she brought me this shirt. It was just like a greenish-brown T-shirt.

Were you wearing it or was it just beside you?

I was wearing it. It felt really, really big on me. Um, it was kind of like cold, but it felt really soothing to wear it though.

I wanted to feel like I was close to him, I was giving him a hug. And I thought about him the whole night. I prayed that he would make it through, that he wouldnt have to go.

But my prayer really didnt come true because he had a stroke during the night from a heart disease that he had.

Mm.

And that made it super worse. Even if we did get him back, he wouldnt actually, like, his body would be there, but he wouldnt be there. He couldnt do anything, like he couldnt talk he couldnt do the things that made him him.

Mm-hm. And how did you learn the news?

Mom got a call, and then I looked at her and I saw worry. So I kind of just did stuff. And then mommy told me what happened.

And what did she tell you?

She told me about the living will that my grandma, my dad, and my uncles read it well, the doctor read it to them that it said that if something happened, he wanted to go. He didnt want to, like, have to suffer in this state.

So your grandfather had written a will that made clear that if he got very sick and hed reached a condition where things werent working out, that he wanted to be allowed to die?

Yeah. And he just wanted to go to heaven and be with God. Like he says, he wanted to fall in the arms of God.

See the rest here:

U.S. Reports More Than 70,000 New Coronavirus Cases for the Second Time - The New York Times