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When Nicholas Montemarano’s parents were diagnosed with Covid a few days before Christmas 2020, he was more worried about his father, who had pre-existing conditions.
The doctor gave Catherine Montemarano, 79, Steroids and antibiotics and she was sent home, but her fever spiked and she was admitted to an Indiana hospital on New Year’s Eve.
But on January 6, 2021, the doctor summoned the family. Nicholas Montemarano drove 600 miles from his home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, worried about his mother as the insurrection unfolded in the United States Capitol. For a time, his health seemed to improve, but soon doctors recommended palliative care.
On Jan. 15, doctors allowed Montemarano and her twin sister, a nurse, to don personal protective equipment and be there for their mother’s last day of life.
“I can’t imagine how difficult it would have been and will continue to be if we couldn’t be with her,” he said. saying.
The family celebrated a mass with 10 people, including his wife and son. Catherine Montemarano, a legal secretary, Catholic, and devout grandmother of three, supported foster children around the world, writing them letters and sending them photographs.
Months later, she learned about the flag project through a virtual support group, registered one online and wrote, “We miss you, Mom.” and she drove to DC with her family.
He started crying as soon as he approached the facility and saw the sign with the number of dead, and he didn’t stop until he found his flag.
“It was almost like I was visiting my mother’s grave,” he said. “She gave us a tangible space and a place for collective mourning.”
They sat on the grass, looking at the only audience. place where I could shed tears without anyone wondering why. “Everyone knew,” she said.
Until the death of his mother, Montemarano, a professor of creative writing at Franklin & Marshall College and a novelist, He wrote almost exclusively fiction. In less than a month, she came across a memoir.
He said that writing the book “If There Are Heavens,” published in July 2022, helped him heal.
“For people who lost a loved one, we will never go back to normal,” he said.