Service of New Traditions
Thursday, April 30th, 2020
I wonder how many new personal traditions have begun as a result of sheltering at home and how many will remain when the worst blows over. The most obvious: families connecting weekly via video conference companies such as Zoom.
I had to figure out a way to exercise without exercising, which I despise. New York, like many cities, is a place to walk–and I did in the normal course of a day–but I have cut down on my outdoor time. My solution has been to reserve an hour a day to dance. I say dance but more accurately I walk/march briskly with intermittent stretches in the compact space of my apartment. My first target is 10,000 steps. So far I’m at 9,400+–3.9 miles according to my iPhone. It’s quite a trick, weaving in and out of chairs and tables and down a short, skinny hallway, but when my hour starts, I don’t stop.
A friend shared another example: “After breakfast my 3 & 5 year old grandchildren hug their father good bye and wish him a good day as he climbs the stairs to his office. This helps the separation and they know he’s not available during business hours.”
Another wrote: “Two of my Beagle grandsons visited yesterday. My son brought a hot lunch. He left my portion on the fender of my car. I picked it up with a disinfectant wipe and cleaned the container. He sat more than 10 feet away and I sat in my car. This is having lunch with a loved one in the new normal.”
I’ve begun to make French toast every Sunday as my mother did when I was a kid. Because it took me forever to wake up in the day, my pieces became hard as rocks without a hint of egg. That’s the only way I’ll eat French toast today.
Have you launched any traditions? Do you think any will outlast sheltering at home?