A few days ago, Harold was talking to me, the dog was checking out the floor, and I was putting on my socks. Harold made that “ah,ah,ah” noise like you do when someone is doing something wrong. I looked at the dog fully expecting her to be trying to eat an inedible object.
“You
are putting a sock over a sock,” he said. Sure enough, I had one bare foot and
one with two socks. That’s typical for the way things have been going lately.
Upside
down meant we could no longer play music at the nursing homes, but it also
meant that I became brave enough, or foolhardy enough, to post videos of “Linda
and her uke” online. I would never have considered such a thing before the
pandemic.
We’ve
had a year of living Murphy’s law…if it could go wrong, it would go wrong.
Right now most of our basement, including my office, is upside down. That
should start being righted when the flooring crew shows up later this week.
My body
feels upside down. After a few months reprieve from the arthritic pain, I’m
having a major flare up, at the same time I need to be physically active righting my
office.
It
seems that every so often we have to go through these times of upheaval. I
crave peace and the days when tragedy struck only occasionally. I’m being worn
slick by chaos and death. People I loved died, and I couldn’t go to their
funerals, but more often services were postponed until later, meaning when the
pandemic is under control.
I
seldom go to town, but during the past week, I’ve gone twice. The first time I
went to town was to get the Pfizer vaccination for Covid-19. I’ve never been so
excited to get a shot in my life.
Saturday,
I had to go to town in the pouring rain. I was amazed at the heavy traffic and
the number of cars at restaurants. Life was going on, as if there were no tomorrow,
or pandemic.
I’ve
lived through upside down times before. For ten years I watched Jim change from
an intelligent, loving husband who loved to sing and play his guitar, to a
silent man who depended on others to provide the most basic care. After Jim passed
away, when I left work and headed toward home instead of the nursing home, I
felt the emptiness and loss wash over me in waves of pain. It took time, lots
of time, for life to seem normal again.
The
thing about upside down is it forces an entirely different perspective. My mom
and I were talking about how life has so drastically changed during the
pandemic. “I think people will never go back to doing all the things they did
before,” she said, “but it would be nice to go into the store and buy my own
groceries.”
I
agree. I don’t think I’ll ever fill my life with so much outside activities again.
There have been distinct advantages to spending so much time at home. I’ve
already filled spaces with other work and hobbies. I’ve had time to think about
what I’ve missed the most—spending time with friends and family.
The
past twelve months brought a multitude of changes, and change hasn’t always been
bad. In fact, creative solutions are often better than the “way we always did
it.” For example, the drive-thru Cooperative Annual Meeting was a favorite of
mine. We heard all the pertinent information through the car radio, voted for
by-law amendments and directors, picked up our door prize (credit on the
electric bill) and were done in record time.
The
“walk everywhere” Walk to End Alzheimer’s had its good points. As my friend
WyAnn said, “We don’t have to get up before dawn to set up.” Also, we weren’t
biting our nails over the weather. The downside was not seeing other walkers,
or enjoying the atmosphere and excitement of working together toward our goal.
Another downside, we weren’t able to raise as much. That was partly due to
people going through hard times and not being able to have normal in person
visits or normal fundraisers.
The
exciting news is that we
may be able to have an in person Walk to End Alzheimer’s this year. It will be
more work and I’m not sure how I’ll fit that into my new schedule.
Maybe
by fall (or sooner!) we can be right side up again and return to some of our
pre-pandemic behavior. We’ve developed new skills and habits, so we can select
only those activities that are meaningful to us. Lifestyles can be adjusted to
embrace the best of both worlds.
Copyright
© January 2021 by L.S. Fisher
http://earlyonset.blogspot.com
#ENDALZ
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