Sunday, July 12, 2020

Diary of an Old Girl

I AM QUARANTINED WITH MY PARENTS

We were quarantined 3/16/20. There were protests, disbelief, confusion, fear.. People compared it to house arrest, frightening historical comparisons arose...one that was mentioned several times during the first days was that of Anne Frank who spent 761 days in a secret annex.
She kept a diary. Anne did not live to be an adult.

The story resonated with me.
I suppose most read her book.
I have it.

I looked at it and
and I put it in my mind, locked it away and vowed to remember it as our lockdown went forward..

My old life was superseded by a new quarantine life.
I did not long for the old life. Why? I knew it would cause anxiety and sadness and loss. I had learned in therapy to compartmentalize grief and negativity and anxiety and move forward with replacements.. These processes were reinforced by years of management training; if you listened a little in these classes you came away with ideas on how to cope with crises, change, and loss.

Almost all activities were canceled.
We were in a pandemic. People all over the world were in it too... and we moved forward. Did what we had to do. Never forgetting those serving and suffering. Liam knew too

we had new lives

1-No Starbucks
the community place
of New Hyde Park
crossroads for hospitals, business, schools
we meet, greet one another, staff and customers

2-no Crabtrees
social epicenter for many
eating drinking
networking
sharing
our family of 27 years
regulars on Fridays
celebrating and grieving and living
through
celebrations, commemorations,wakes, reunions

3-no Cleo Nail salon
neighborhood people
who are making a living and contributing by
caring for us
and sending us out to the world

4-No Touch Of Class Hair Salon
it's our family
people and animals loved and rescued
not only a shop
we know and love one another

they make us better people
physically and spiritually
we are are best selves when we leave

5-no Push Fitness health club
fitness
mind and body
social connections
support
stories

As we moved to April I started to think

How much do I want to take back when they set us free?

all

part

none

and they started to come back

1- Starbucks
in May
returned
and I did too
I received a round of applause when I walked in
the dream of every Leo birth sign
the following collage below left-records the first day back
Liam tongue out waiting at home for his first iced coffee drink of 2020

and then
2- Crabtrees had curbside
we did it and were thrilled to step inside masked and social distancing and
greet our regulars and staff
no hugs
namaste greeting works
left collage below is a sampling of one of our take home meals

and then we were back on the patio
right below a night of joyous reunions

and from the start I had Andrew

I was gifted with a Cuomo mug from good friends

Liam waited through it all

3-Hair

came back

the stages of my hair since early March

stitched below into two rows of photos

left the earliest and then the last stage a hat

I had not one grey hair

but I also had not one blonde one

I was once a blonde!

what the heck happened?

I guess I am my mother Ruth
who died in 2010 at age 87
with a full head of thick brown hair

I never toyed with the idea of going natural

not once

I returned to my blonde self

the way I was most of my life...perhaps the pandemic caused me to be brown

Liam below left looking and thinking

"my Mom is back, no longer brown like me"

4-Nails

I will take back but with a change
elimination of polish
my nails thrived in the 4 months without polish
I will respect their growth and health and set them free of color
for years the staff of Cleo has attempted to build up my nails
which were cracking, peeling, not growing

I now have the best fingernails and toenails
Took a plague to fix them

my nail salon my collection which will be dumped

5-But what about Push Fitness?

My health cub of 15 years
. I have belonged to some sort of outside exercise venue for 52 years.
This I may not take back.

Not out of a fear of Covid transmission or timed visits and mask restrictions

I like what I have built for the last 4 months

I have developed an exercise routine

watch Channel 18
Project Independence

https://www.mynhtv.com/schedule

which is a mix of all types of activities

I do the classes with two friends we text and start together

we have grown closer and stronger and have developed deep affection for our instructors

how could we not?

every one of the instructors say we are awesome and that they love us

and are proud of us and that we are beautful

we have dance class, yoga, chair exercise, Tai Chi

we use weights, bands, balls, mats , blocks as illustrated in the following collage

and
I have a home gym

I started it years ago after blizzard closed my gym for several days
a treadmill, a Schwinn rider, weights, a giant ball and row machine. I was preparing for the eventuality I might be housebound for a while at some point. I never expected
a pandemic.
a lockdown
a quarantine
and the
the closure of my health club

My home gym is in the 1950's mode...knotty pine walls, a bar...a defunct stereo radio speaker in the wall...nostalgia
I have my art and my aunt's hung on the walls. a sampling of my tile collection of 65 years
adjacent is the laundry room where I can do laundry at the same time.

gym in basement

top right
Liam watches from the couch or sometimes joins in the den for the TV classes
never been in the basement
he has never ventured down the steps
fear

Life will not be as it was.

and I don't want it back

there are new ways

new discoveries

Let's go