My husband’s BFF, Derr, has an incredibly positive outlook on life and the twists and turns that it presents to him. He has an uncanny way of finding the bright side of things. To wit: many years back, he had a bad fall on a trampoline, and broke his neck. Yes! Broke his neck! His reaction: well, there’s my good luck! I could have ended up paralyzed, and I just had this little broken neck instead.
It’s a gift, to see the silver linings in things, and not a gift I always possess. But in these days of the coronavirus pandemic and all the sad – and angry - stories that are coming out of it, I sometimes stop and try to put on my Derr hat and see the good.
Like the daily exchange we see with neighbors up the street. We see Eric (the dad) and his 5-year-old Knox outside now every day, kicking or throwing balls of various shapes and sizes. Down the street the other direction, our neighbors built a front yard little climbing wall for their two young kids (5 and 3? Or maybe 6 and 4? Never matter; Josey and Paulie are as cute as they come). The entire little family congregates regularly in the front yard, the kids playing, mom and dad with coffee mugs. We see more of this family unity on our daily walks through the neighborhood, too. Who knew there were so many families, and so many families now spending quality time outside on the soft spring days we’ve had.
And more simple things: watching the yard light up with color, bit by bit, as all the spring bulbs bloom. It seems that I almost always end up traveling for work in the spring bloom time, and so miss much of the color – color that I’ve anticipated big time while doing the fall planting. Not so this year. I get to see it all. And is it my imagination, or are the birds singing more vibrantly this year? So far there are no new species in our yard, but that’s okay. I’ll just revel in the fact that our resident European Collared Dove appears to have acquired a new mate, and I’ll thrill to watch the goldfinches at the feeders outside my office window, as they molt into their bright yellow breeding plumage, little by little.
When the shelter-at-home order came about, one of the first things that I feared missing was my weekly Pilates class. But the Pilates studio quickly figured out how to provide classes over Zoom. We’re doing mat Pilates instead of reformer Pilates, something I wasn’t sure about to start out. But there are so many benefits! Now I can take multiple classes a week. There’s no longer a need to factor in drive time. The bigger change, though, is that with online classes there’s no limitation on participants – a limitation that was imposed by the number of reformers. Many classes I’ve wanted to take in the past were full by the time I tried to register; now there is no limitation to the number of participants. And, oh! The workouts! I’ve not been this sore after exercise in ages. It’s the good kind of sore: where you know that you got a seriously good workout.
I’m grateful for the teachers who now have their own challenge. Teaching reformer Pilates, they just tell us what to do and adjust the springs, occasionally demonstrating a move, but not participating as a member of the class. Not so with mat Pilates. They demonstrate and perform the entire workout with us. There’s a popular meme that says that if you think Fred Astaire was a great dancer, consider Ginger Rogers, who did everything that Fred did, only she did it backwards and wearing heels. That’s the spirit of our Pilates instructors these days: not only do they do every exercise and move and pose that they tell us to do, they do it while talking us through the moves, and doing everything in a mirror image. They are my heroes of the week.
By the way, that Zoom thing? Ah, yeah. The first time we had a class via Zoom, everyone had technical issues, and it took a while to get going. The next time, the issues were mostly resolved, but now everyone was shy, turning off their own video feeds. By the third or fourth class? We’re all now old pros. Cameras on, having a nice face to face chat before class starts, and then we all get to watch everyone else go through the motions of the class. Nothing like change being forced on you to make you adapt.
Back in the mid-1980s, two of my graduate school classmates got married – to each other. We became friends when they were my partners in several class projects, so Rome and I went to their wedding. The wedding was in one of those old grand mansions in Denver that had been converted to an events venue. It was early summer, and the ceremony was held in a pretty garden off to the side of the mansion. Midway through the ceremony, it started to sprinkle, a few drips at first, moving quickly to outright rain. Everyone started looking around, wondering if we should run for cover. The minister – a female Episcopalian priest – didn’t miss a beat. As she prayed, she added, “and let us thank God for the rain today”. Rome and I looked at each other and laughed. It was summer in Colorado; a little rain was not going to harm anyone, even if they were in tuxes and bridal wear. Everyone was a little damp by the end of the ceremony, but once the champagne started flowing (inside the mansion!), all was well.
As I write this, it’s raining here in Denver. It’s not a nice summer rain, but rather, an icy spring rain that feels more Midwest or east coast in its dampness and bone-chillingness. But inside, I’m warm and safe. I may not thank God for today’s rain - although here in Colorado, we pretty much always need the rain, so, well, okay, I’ll thank him for that after all. But more to the point, I’m definitely thankful for the fact that the coronavirus has caused me to be more connected to family and friends in multiple ways, far more than the old normal. Keep them coming: text chains, FB messenger chats, phone calls, emails.
And remember, always look at the bright side of life.
Keep smilin', Derr
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