“My mom and dad had 11 kids. I’m the baby. I’m 38 years old. I’m single. I’m homosexual. And I’m the only one who doesn’t have any kids. Altogether, there are like 65 grandchildren.

“I fight a depression sometimes because I feel like I’m missing out on parenthood. I do have this freedom. But I’m also jealous because they have kids. It’s kind of weird.

“I love all my nieces and nephews. I’m even a great uncle. I have a great niece who is almost 20 years old. But I don’t have any biological children. That’s something that I want to kind of do before I turn 40. I’ve really been thinking about it, like having one naturally with a female. Or I could donate to a couple. But I really want my own.

“Either way, it’s going to hurt because my dad met all his grandchildren. And if I have a child, he wouldn’t be able to meet him or her. My dad passed away last year from the coronavirus. It was the day after my birthday. What’s crazy is my mom has a lot of heart and health problems. She caught the coronavirus and fought it off like within two weeks. But it killed my dad within 21 days.

“He was in the penitentiary for about 20 years of my life. He was out only two years before he passed. It was hard because we couldn’t wait for him to get out. When he finally did, we all celebrated with him. He was getting to enjoy life and do the dad thing again.

“My parents had separated when I was 12. All my brothers went with my dad, and the girls and I went with my mom. I was raised with the girls.

“When I was a child, my mom realized that I was gay. And she was like, it’s OK. I feel like she raised me as a female. She acted like I was a girl in a little boy’s body. She was like, if that’s how you feel, and if you want to wear dresses or whatever, then go ahead.

“I love that little woman. She’s always been my backbone. She taught me how to stay strong. I continue to draw my strength from her.”

— Martin Caldera

(Note: Martin Caldera passed away on Dec. 6, 2021.)

The post ‘I feel like I’m missing out on parenthood’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“We’ve been seeing a gradual decline in the number of COVID patients. The last time I was at work, we had a few empty beds. That hasn’t been the case in a very long time. I definitely think it’s because more people are being vaccinated.

“I believe in the vaccine. Vaccinated people can still get sick, but they don’t get as sick. We’re seeing more of that. More good stories. Vaccinated people are actually getting out of the ICU.

“When it comes to people feeling like they’re being forced to do something, they’re always going to be reluctant. But right now, that vaccine is saving lives.

“We had a 31-year-old patient come in with COVID. She was unvacinnated, and she succumbed to the virus. One of the saddest things for us as nurses is when the family comes in and has to face the tragedy. In this case, a 10-year-old girl was pulled out of school to say her last goodbye to her mom. I don’t think there was a dry eye on that unit.

“It was a Hispanic family, and nobody spoke English. But you didn’t need a translator to feel the emotion from that little girl. She wailed for her mom. She begged for her mom to come back and to not leave her.

“That’s a story that will stick with me. I have an 8-year-old daughter. And I just couldn’t imagine leaving her.

“We’ve seen too many people die from this. Don’t treat it like it’s nothing. Because I can guarantee that even if it’s nothing to you, it can be something to someone else. We’re all going through this together. We all can do our part. I encourage everybody to do their part and get vaccinated.”

— Kelvin Gray

Related:

• ‘COVID has let us know exactly how mortal we are’

The post ICU nurse stresses importance of vaccine appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“One thing I’ve learned is to never feel like everything is OK. It was March this year when the majority of extra nurses — travelers like me — were sent back home. We all thought COVID was finally settling down or somewhat over. It took just two months, and suddenly we had this big spike with the delta variant.

“This whole experience has definitely been traumatizing. I don’t ever feel like we’re safe.

“I’ve been an ICU nurse for seven years now. In the first five years of my career, I didn’t see so many people die cumulatively as I have these past two years. I’ve seen so much death.

“As nurses, we often compare our level of PTSD to soldiers on the battlefield. Although it’s a different style of fighting, we’re all striving to preserve human life. And to see so many people fall in front of you … I can’t imagine anyone going through this and not coming away scathed in some kind of way.

“Talking to other nurses, we’re all we’ve got when it comes to actually understanding what this feels like. Thankfully, the hospitals offer counseling. They give us prayers a lot of times before our shift starts. But it still feels like you’re walking into doom.

“I went through a period when after a long stretch of days off, I would have anxiety about going back. I would literally be shaking before the shift, because I never knew what was going to happen. I feel like I’ve always been someone who’s resilient when it comes to emotional stress. But this has been something totally different.

“COVID has let us know exactly how mortal we are. To see that every day, it has changed me as a person.”

— Kelvin Gray

Related:

• ICU nurse stresses importance of vaccine

The post ‘COVID has let us know exactly how mortal we are’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“We’re a combined family. He has seven kids from his previous marriage and I have two. I also have custody of my two grandkids, so together we have 11. Eight of them live at home.

“After being off almost a whole year, we’re both blessed to be working now. I mean, we’re still struggling. Because of 2020, I think lots of people are going to be struggling for a while. We’re slowly creeping back up to the surface. Right now, we’re trying to hang on to our home.

“Like everyone else, we had some issues during the winter storm. We were without power for two days. So we lit a bonfire in our firepit, and the neighbors came over. We sat outside around the fire and talked. We lit candles. The kids played hide and seek in the dark. Our fireplace has gas, so that really helped. We turned it on, and all the kids slept in the living room to stay warm.

“We were without water for five days. So we were going to our neighbor’s house to shower, and we were using her pool to flush the toilets. She lives by herself, and she didn’t know how to light her fireplace. So we did that for her, and we helped flush her toilets and stuff. We were going back and forth a lot, helping each other. Our neighborhood is pretty great that way.

“My husband, Michael, isn’t a plumber, but he’s pretty handy. I always pick at him because it seems like he hoards stuff in the garage. But it actually came in handy this time. He was able to help out several people in our community with their plumbing issues, including a neighbor who’s a veteran. Seeing him come home from work at 6 p.m., suiting up and helping people without his hand out asking for something in return, I literally fell in love with him all over again.”

— Shannon Moore

Shannon and Michael got married on Nov. 16, 2019. They have yet to take their honeymoon cruise, which has been canceled three times due to the pandemic.

The post ‘I literally fell in love with him all over again’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I got my first shot in mid-December. It was the first day we started administering them at the hospital. We found out that we were able to fill more vaccines per vile than originally thought. As it turned out, the day that I was originally scheduled for my first shot ended up being when I got my second dose.

“With the first shot, I had some discomfort in my arm. But it wasn’t anything more than you normally experience after a flu shot.

“About 30 minutes to an hour after my second dose, the pain in my arm was much more noticeable. During the pandemic, I had slowly built up a home gym, and I kept up very well with my fitness. So the night after my second dose, I was doing side planks. It was painful in that arm, but I was still able to get in a full-effort workout. The pain subsided over the next few days, and then it was fine. I didn’t have any other side effects.

“I don’t have any underlying conditions and I’m not in any of the high-risk categories. But there have been plenty of cases where healthy, young people have ended up getting sick and dying. I think that’s been one of the major fear factors during this pandemic. That’s what’s scary to people like me, a young, healthy, 31-year-old.

“Getting the vaccine has definitely provided a sense of relief. I know that I’m still going to be around to take care of my daughter.”

— Jessica Ortiz

Jessica works at Houston Methodist Baytown Hospital.

Related:

• Divorce quite different during pandemic

• ‘Germaphobe’ comes prepared for pandemic

The post COVID vaccine provides ‘sense of relief’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I’ve always been a person who buys in bulk for financial reasons, not for hoarding. I would buy my supplies every 3-4 months. So at the beginning of the pandemic when everyone was out of toilet paper and cleaning essentials, I was like, uh-huh. Two weeks before, I had bought my usual supply.

“When it was time for me to restock, I got pretty annoyed. I didn’t have access to what I needed because everyone suddenly had this interest in keeping their home clean. And the industry just wasn’t ready for this mass purchase of products.

“I’ve always been known as the germaphobe in the family. I’m the one who asks people to take off their shoes when they get to my house. They’re like, why? And I’m like, think about the purpose of your shoes. It’s to protect you from the outside. Why are you going to bring whatever’s nasty outside into my home?

“Even pre-COVID, I was the one who always had the carrying case in her purse from Bath and Body Works with the hand sanitizer. I always had Purell hand wipes in my bag. My ex-husband would get so annoyed with me any time we’d go to a restaurant. We’d sit down, and I’d be taking out the sanitizer and say, ‘Kids, give me your hands.’ And he’d be like, oh my gosh. Nobody thinks about how they just walked through the door and touched the handle that everybody else touches.

“When my daughter was a baby — she’s 11 now — I even carried mini cans of Lysol with me everywhere. I had portable changing pads that I’d take with me, and I’d clean off the surface before I put the changing pad down.

“I’m not clinically OCD or anything like that. I’m just very meticulous. I attribute it to my knowledge of what’s out there in the world and how dirty public spaces really are.”

— Jessica Ortiz

Related:

• Divorce quite different during pandemic

• COVID vaccine provides sense of relief

The post ‘Germaphobe’ comes prepared for pandemic appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“We both had been married once and divorced once. They were abusive relationships and traumatizing experiences. So exiting that, it was kind of like, I don’t know if I’ll ever get married again.

“When he and I got together, from the very beginning, we had open conversations. Divorce was never the goal. But because of what we had experienced in our first marriages and the divorce process, we said, God forbid that if we ever do separate, instead of being a harm to each other, let’s be a help to each other. If it does have to end, let’s make sure that we both come out of this relationship with some positives and support from each other. Let’s not be like, oh, my ex-husband, I hate him, he’s such a jerk. We always had that agreement and mutual respect for each other.

“We really tried to work it out. But after about two years, we arrived at the decision that we needed to file for divorce. That’s what we did last January.

“We did not have children together; we both had children prior to finding each other. We were in complete agreement of division of assets. We were not fighting about anything. But because of delays related to the pandemic, it was the end of August before everything was finalized. We didn’t ever see the judge. We just signed paperwork with the lawyer, and the lawyer had a virtual hearing with the judge. Even my divorce paperwork was signed with a digital stamp. It was kind of a weird, unique experience.

“Mainly for financial reasons, we continued living in the same house while waiting for the divorce to be final. I have a four-bedroom home, so it wasn’t like we didn’t have space for him. We were really like very good roommates.

“He didn’t move out until a few months after the divorce. I told him, ‘Dude, it’s time. I can’t start dating and tell the guy, by the way, my ex-husband still lives in my house.’ But I do say to people now that he’s actually my best friend.”

— Jessica Ortiz

Related:

• ‘Germaphobe’ comes prepared for pandemic

• COVID vaccine provides sense of relief

The post Divorce quite different during pandemic appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I came back to the states in January 2020 as tour manager for an all-girl math rock band from Osaka, Japan, named Paranoid Void. Although it was short-lived, it was one of the most fulfilling tours I’ve been on. So many people turned out in Texas and California.

“But by early February, we all realized that because of COVID-19, we were not going to be able to continue the tour. So I came back to Baytown to be with my family, and the band returned to Japan.

“For quite a while after that, I lost touch with a lot of people. Then shortly after the George Floyd incident, I saw the most wonderfully resonating thing on Facebook. The girls posted this video saying that they wanted to help raise money for Black Lives Matter. In the video, you could see the anguish on their faces. Through their words it was like they were saying, ‘We went to the U.S.A.. We met so many people. We love them. We know they love us. We recognize that you are struggling right now. And we want to help.’

“I have never seen an instance like that, where cultural exchange is helping work toward a solution. Right then and there, my life’s work, my dream, was validated. It didn’t matter how much money I made on that tour, which wasn’t much. It’s a matter of what was accomplished.

“For the girls, it wasn’t a political debate or anything like that. It was so simple. It was just them saying, ‘We want to help you.’”

— David Isaac

Prior to COVID-19, David spent the better part of seven years in Japan as a tour manager, booking agent and promoter for various musicians through his company, Dead Foxx. In the post-pandemic world, he hopes to bring more bands from Japan to Baytown.

Through the sale of band T-shirts, Paranoid Void members Yuki (bass), Meguri (guitar) and Mipow (drums) helped raise $455 for a Black Lives Matter support fund.

Related:

• David Isaac: His world is a mix of music and politics

The post Japanese band supports Black Lives Matter appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“Disney was such a happy experience, and it was so exciting to be in Florida. I was loving what I was doing, loving the people I was with and the community I had created. I had found a church there. There were just all sorts of aspects that fell into place.

“Within a matter of days, all of that was ripped away because of COVID. After I got back home it was like, OK, now what am I going to do? I spent the next three months struggling with my anxiety and depression. I spent what felt like hours upon hours in my mom’s arms, crying to the point where I had no more tears left.

“The job market didn’t help. I applied to company after company and received no more than a generic ‘sorry, we’re not hiring during this unprecedented time’ email. My program ending early felt like a stab wound through the heart, and every email was the twisting of the knife of rejection and failure.

“Finally, I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and said, all right, what am I going to do next? I settled on getting my master’s in social media and marketing. I began researching programs and started those applications. It’s something that I’ve always been super passionate about and have enjoyed doing. To get to study that and hone my craft is really exciting. A lot of it has to do with my time at Disney. Just figuring out that I really love the creative side of things, and the whole start to finish of a creative project.

“As hard as it’s been, I’ve learned a lot about myself and others, and a lot about patience and enjoying life where I’m at right now. It’s not just me. The whole world has paused. Millions of others are going through something similar or have it far worse. I still have my family. I still have my friends. I still have my health. So, yeah, it’s tough right now, but this is only temporary. There’s so much more out there. I’m excited to see what happens next.”

— Kenzie Lackey

As she finalizes plans for her master’s studies, Kenzie enjoys helping prepare meals and social media posts for The Mustard Seed Tea Room in Baytown.

Related:

• Disney internship adventure begins

• COVID-19 brings abrupt end to internship

The post ‘It’s tough right now, but this is only temporary’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I was supposed to be at Disney World from January to May 2020. But I was having so much fun as a PhotoPass photographer, I applied for an extension to August, and I got it.

“In our morning briefings in January, they reminded us about flu season, and to make sure we washed our hands, used hand sanitizer, that type of thing. Mid-February, the briefings started talking about this thing called COVID. They asked us to help limit contact between guests, limit photos we were taking, and wipe down our equipment often. Beginning of March, they really upped the precautions.

“Then around March 12, we learned Disney World was closing for 2-3 weeks. We thought we were going to just stay in our apartments, then head back to the parks when they opened again. About two days later, we got an email saying that due to COVID-19 and all the unknowns, they were ending our program early and sending us back home. We had to be out of our apartments in 72 hours.

“We still had one full day of the parks being open, and I had a shift that day. Because it was such a shock and everything ended so abruptly, Disney cast members and management really made our last day memorable.

“One of my managers asked if there was an area or character I’d like to work with. I said that I’d love to shoot with Mickey and Minnie, even if just for one family. She put me with them for three hours. It was unbelievable. They even cleared out the area to give me one last goodbye with Mickey and Minnie, and I got some hugs and pictures with them.

“After clocking out for the final time, they again went above and beyond. They asked if there was anything on our bucket list, like rides or shows we hadn’t seen, and they made it happen. Cast members showered us with love and appreciation. We had so much fun. And as sad of an ending as it was, it was something I’ll never forget because of the kindness of so many people who poured out their hearts to us.

“Then we went back to our apartments and packed it up. About 24 hours later, I was on the road, heading back to Texas.”

— Kenzie Lackey

Related:

• Disney internship adventure begins

• ‘It’s tough right now, but this is only temporary’

The post COVID-19 brings abrupt end to internship appeared first on The Baytown Project.