Thanks to Mayberry, life is good again

Here’s how Ron Howard helped me through my bout with COVID-19. On March 16, I started feeling feverish and slept 24 of the next 48 hours. Two days later, I felt better, but I then crashed and my fever ranged from 99.1 to 103.3 for 10 days. My wife drove me to urgent care, and I was diagnosed with pneumonia. Worse, my coronavirus test came back positive. There are three reasons why I recovered: God; my wife, Nancy; and Mayberry. My fever is gone so I know what I’m talking about.

While in bed with a roller-coaster fever, I realized if I watched news 24/7, it could have been fatal. I found “The Andy Griffith Show” on TV and watched it when awake, listened while resting, and it was on even when I was asleep. It was comforting. Andy, Barney, Aunt Bea, Opie, all of Mayberry. It took me back to when I was 10 years old and life was simpler. Sure, there were problems then, but there was nothing “Pa” couldn’t fix. Life was good. Ron, I just wanted to thank you for helping me get through a difficult time. I’m feeling better and you had a hand in that. Life is good.

Michael Hochman,

Bethpage

A heartwarming parade of cars

My husband, Santo, and I live in the Longwood school district on Patton Avenue. One recent afternoon, we heard many horns honking on our street. We saw a procession of about 50 cars passing with signs in their windows saying, “Longwood misses you.” We went outside to wave thank you and were so touched by such love and caring from so many people to let us all know we are not alone during this terrible time. We all cried.

It wasn’t until the next day that my neighbor told me they were teachers from the school district. Our hearts are filled with such love for all of them. We send our prayers to all our Long Island neighbors and to all the people putting themselves in harm’s way to do the right thing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Myra Liguori,

East Yaphank