Raritan Daughter Pens Heartfelt Memoir Honoring Her Dad And His Loss To COVID

RARITAN, NJ — As the world shut down and Elizabeth Jaeger of Raritan dealt with lockdown, her dad's 19-day battle with COVID, and ultimately grief, she turned to writing as an outlet and a way to process everything happening around her.

Jaeger, an English Teacher at Bound Brook High School, published "Stolen: Love and Loss in the Time of COVID-19," which chronicles the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially intended as a light blog, the book evolved into a record of her father's illness and death, and life in New York City during the pandemic. The book also includes flashbacks to happier times with her father.

"This story was the one book that I wrote that I never intended to write. It was never supposed to be a book," said Jaeger.

March 16, 2020, marked the first day that Jaeger, her wife, and their son were home because of COVID,
"And it was terrible."

"We were battling the technology. We were locked into small condo. None of us were happy. So that night, I decided, on a lark, to start a blog. I've always written. Writing is how I process everything, so I just started a blog for the hell of it, thinking, if nothing else, things are going to be so bad. I'll look back on it in 10, 15, years, and it'll be something to laugh about," said Jaeger.

On day eight, things took a turn for the worst. Her dad, who had been traveling in Patagonia, got sick.

"On day 12, he was hospitalized, and all of a sudden, what was supposed to be something that was light and something I was supposed to look back on, became a record of my heart breaking," said Jaeger.

Her dad spent 19 days in the ICU before he died.

"I just kept writing, because that's what I do, and I wanted to keep friends and family abreast of what was going on," aid Jaeger.

Her story not only chronicles her father's hospital stay but also her time in New York City where she stayed during his treatment.

"It gives an insight. What the pandemic was really like. What was it like to live in the heart of where the epicenter of the pandemic was?" said Jaeger.

The book also flashes back to happier memories with her dad growing up to give a lighter tone.

"What happened was on day 10 after he got sick, it was just getting too heavy. So I decided I was going to end each blog post with a happier memory. I take the readers through different time periods of not just my life, but my dad's as well, to give a broader picture of who he was before he got sick," said Jaeger.

One particular happy memory Jaeger recalls is their family trip to Niagara Falls. The night before the plan was to get up at 4 a.m. to leave. Jaeger wanted to be up first so she set her alarm a few minutes earlier.

But then at 1 a.m., her mom woke Jaeger up and said, "Your dad can't sleep, so he told me to get everybody awake, and we're going early. So that was Dad. He always got excited about traveling and could never sleep the night before a trip."

Jaeger took her time weaving her blog entries into the heartfelt memoir of her life and her father's life, hoping to bring a more personal story to the pandemic. She is also hoping readers get a realization of how bad the pandemic really was.

"I think the political response was poor, and I think there are still many people in the country who think it was a hoax, who don't really understand the severity of it. So I'm hoping that with it out there, people really understand how bad it was and how much it affected a lot of people," said Jaeger.

She noted that her son is still having trouble accepting the fact that his grandfather died and she says he is not the only one.

"This is going to have residual effects on an entire generation. And I think I would like people to understand how the pandemic and the deaths that occurred psychologically really affected many people," said Jaeger.

Jaeger's book is available for purchase through her publisher, Unsolicited Press, at unsolicitedpress.com/shop/p/stolen-jaeger and Amazon at amazon.com/Stolen-Love-Loss-Time-COVID-19.

For more information on Jaeger and her book, visit elizabethjaegerauthor.com.

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