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College students coming home for the holidays this year may find a house with one fewer family member, or attend a holiday gathering with one missing face on the video chat.
Brianna Pittman of Waterbury is returning from college to fresh reminders of her loss. Her godmother, Patricia Parker, died on Nov. 22 from the coronavirus. It was a new kind of loss for Pittman, 21. She had lost great-grandparents before, but they were elderly, she said, and their deaths weren’t entirely unexpected.
Parker’s death was not part of the plan.
“[When] this one happened it was like, ‘Hold up, this was not supposed to -- this is not how life was supposed to work. I don’t know what to do with this one, this one kinda hurt, this one kinda stings.’”