Category: Westport In Focus

Stephanie Szostak, her husband and two boys, aged 17 and 13 have lived in Westport for seven years. Stephanie is an actress who recently wrapped up the second season of her show A Million Little Things on ABC. 

“Having just wrapped a show, normally I would be probably auditioning for new stuff now but obviously all productions everywhere have stopped. As an actor these periods of unemployment and waiting are something we are familiar with so I’ve decided to treat it like that—as regular waiting. I’ve had to deal with not being in control before—waiting for callbacks for example. It’s good to treat this as sort of an “off-season” like athletes and to take the opportunity to do things to be a better performer, like creating and journaling which I am attempting to do.

Sometimes, I can’t believe the volatility of my state of mind. There are days where I’m positive or functioning and just being able to take day to day and focusing on what’s in my control. I focus on just feelin  and acting slow and just being where I am–where my two feet are. And things are ok when things are like that. It’s not that I am being oblivious but I’ve limited watching news to once a day. 

There are other days when I can’t quiet my mind and that’s saying a lot because and I’ m a meditator. I meditate 2x a day. I guess we are never really in control but this is more challenging than in regular times. Your own mind can be an obstacle—thinking about the future and the pain all around. 

Other obstacles are the news, being four people in one house, together all the time. I gain energy from moments alone, and that is challenged now. It goes without saying, though, that it’s a blessing to be together with our loved ones. We say thank god we are together, and that we like as well as love each other.  

 
My husband is a financial planner who normally goes into city two to three times a week. Like everyone he works from home all the time now and he is actually working a lot, and is in touch with a lot of clients just hearing them out about and what they need. It’s interesting because you can hear from his side of the conversation that theirs state of mind range. He’ll go from one person who is optimistic and to another going through a nightmare as well people who were dealing with illness already and then this crisis has happened. Of course, it affects him but thank goodness for technology so he can stay connected to co-workers because for him going to office was important. It’s important to feel the energy of other people around you.  

One saving grace as a family has been the puppy we adopted in February. He has been such a gift.  He’s given us moments of joy and love and togetherness around him. The other day, I was lying on the ground with the puppy with my 17 year old—a tender moment that wouldn’t have happened normally. 

We’ve also drawn a lot of resilience from our kids. Kids are incredible because they are in the moment always. My younger son has a group FaceTime talk with his friends they all check in and it’s so sweet. They talk about school, have homework groups—they help each other.  

Most of all, I’m amazed at the leadership in the town and the communication we’ve been getting from very early on—it really makes a difference. I feel like that as a community we’ve really come together and everyone is respecting what needs to happen. Most of the time, people have good intentions. I believe in the good of people but some people take a little bit longer to figure thing out, to get with the program. I don’t think that’s ill-intended so I believe we have to be careful with social media with pointing fingers, denouncing or accusing. We need to talk to people directly, email if we need to say something or see something. We need to have accountability for what we say and not hide behind a screen. 

Social distancing is weighing on us all, but it will be long, so we must remember to be gentle in the way we act with one another. We need to get ahead of the mental and emotional issues that will surely arise. Awareness is everything. If we are made aware then we can step into the world with that awareness.” 

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Sheri Rabiner Gordon is a member of Westport’s Board of Finance. 

“I spend my days helping everyone get their work done, keeping the house together and endless meals! I check in on friends and family and am continuing my work on Board of Finance. It’s taken some time to adjust to virtual-only meetings. 

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I own a local department store on Main Street: Savvy+Grace. It went from a retail business to e-commerce and call in order business overnight. I am still working, shipping locally & getting the store ready for when we can re-open. 

My greatest hope is that we all see how it is easy to take things for granted. That this pandemic brings out more gratitude, kindness and love in us all. It’s hard on all of us for same and different reasons My coping mechanisms for me have been God, Family & Friends (and maybe a little more wine!-ha-ha). I won’t call it a fear but I do keep thinking of the kids and how hard this is on them as well.  

As a business owner in town, I am so grateful for the community and that it realizes how important it is to ‘shop local’. It is not just a trendy saying. I have seen first-hand, during these times….Westport means it and rallies. It is beautiful and heart-warming. I know this will pass and together, we will be stronger for it.  

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Jay Dirnberger and Molly Alger moved to Westport from New York City 11 years ago and quickly became integral members of town life, lending their time and efforts to numerous local nonprofits. Molly is a retired management consultant and Jay is a retired institutional investment portfolio manager. A highly decorated Vietnam War veteran, Jay was a helicopter pilot in the Army’s, First Cavalry Division and was later in the 18^th Airborne Corp at Fort Bragg. He is the recipient of the Silver star, Bronze Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, twenty-three Air Medals and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. You can see and hear Jay’s American Memory interview with the Library of Congress here. 

“I often hear people use the analogy of wartime when it comes to the situation we’re in. Drawing the comparison idea of fighting a war in your own country doesn’t apply here—the last time that happened was the Civil War, so we have no recent collective memory of that. Except for the caregivers, the war analogy is too broad, in my opinion. However, there is a sense of community behavior to support a common goal but it doesn’t seem to me to be close to a war situation. I do think there is some analogy to the Depression that is applicable. 

I take this seriously—and have since the beginning—but, at first, I’d say Molly took it more seriously than me. In February and March there hadn’t been a lot of info about people who have been sick and gotten better. Not knowing that was demoralizing. As I’ve been learning that some people have had it and didn’t even now or those who did know and were sick but still survived—that statistical knowledge holds out hope. However, there is the worry of “silent transmitters”. 

Personally, our greatest impact is that we can’t do the volunteer work we both love. I am part of the Y’s Men and on the finance committee at the Westport Museum as well as on the board of The Playhouse. I’m also a school mentor within the international refugee community in Bridgeport. I miss that a great deal. Molly is on the board of the Friends of the Senior center and is Secretary of the Westport/Weston Community Emergency Response Team which augments emergency services during crises. Molly is practicing with the Community Band playing her alto saxophone. She hopes to participate next season. This situation is different now—volunteers can’t be put on the front lines and at risk so we are finding different ways to help. 

We walk a lot. We’ve always been walkers but we do more now. Usually we about 3 miles a day. We take a certain path and we see people in neighborhood. We cross to separate, but we still smile and greet each other.  It’s responsible behavior and it’s a shared experience that particularly reminds me of living in Manhattan those first few days after 9/11–when you ran into anyone you would say “did you lose anyone” “are you ok?”

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We’ve lived in Westport for 9 years and have two young girls. I’m a stay at home mom and my husband, Brian, is the CMO at WWE. He never works from home, so this is a welcome change to physically have him in the house during the day.  Our girls attend KHS and are in K and 4th grade. Homeschooling is a large portion of our day. As they are younger, homeschooling requires a lot of hand holding and guiding. Finding time for myself or to work on things around the house are scarce.  

We are trying to stay as active as possible in the afternoon, and enjoying being together as a family when time allows a time out from work. We are enjoying long walks in a deserted downtown and exploring parts of Westport that we may otherwise not have time to enjoy. 

I feel SO fortunate to live in Westport right now. I think that our town representatives have done a phenomenal job since this crisis has begun. From being one of the first to close our schools, to encouraging us to stay home, daily communication and constant reminders and updates – I am SO impressed and proud of living in Westport. I think that our community was “ahead of the curve,” and my hope is that we come out of this faster and grow stronger together. 

One of the hardest things for our family has been not having direct contact with parents and grandparents. I am fortunate that my mother and stepfather live in Westport, and my father lives in Southport. We made the decision to only have social-distance approved contact with them several weeks ago. Not being able to embrace and see them interact directly with their granddaughters is hard. We look forward to a time when hugs and kisses return! 

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