Dames in Lanes Friday Round-Up

I told my friend not to get discouraged about all the craziness from the Trump Administration and then I got home and saw that ICE arrested the mayor of Newark. I told her the tide was turning, well, the tide was thinking about turning and that was progress. I protest all the wreckage of critically needed services like Medicaid and the National Weather Service, but the real issue is the Newark mayor getting arrested standing on a public sidewalk and his wife saying she’s afraid he’ll be sent to El Salvador or Libya. Forget the programs. This is crazy.

I swam at a public pool today where the lifeguards talked to each other using those big white megaphones for yelling at kids who shouldn’t be in the deep end. In this case, they were talking about the best places to have a wedding. I only know this because my friend told me later what they were saying. They also adjusted the lane ropes twice to accommodate new swimmers so nobody would have to share a lane which is A+ level of customer service for swimmers. We’re good sports but, truly, we want to have our own lane. That’s how the meditation happens.

The new Pope is from Chicago which is amazing and weirdly wonderful. People from Chicago can be a lot in terms of their fiendish devotion to their sports teams and intense politics but they are gritty and real, used to living up close and personal with all kinds of folks, and big on live and let live. If you believe, like I do, that place has meaning for a person’s disposition and outlook, then having a Pope from the “city of big shoulders” carries some serious weight. I’m not Catholic but I’m happy about Pope Leo XIV.

Leftovers are us. It is unusual and considered a personal failing for us to throw anything away. Unfortunately, we have different views on the longevity of leftovers with one of us thinking that refrigeration makes food eternal and the other having a more normal, if elastic, view of the lifespan of food. That said, we are about as frugal as two people could be which has been a good thing through the thick and thin of forty years. We know our way around reheating, repurposing, and reimagining what we had for dinner last night (or last week). I mention this for obvious reasons. I am having the leftover bean soup, and he is having the ginned-up Ethiopian turkey with couscous.

When all the folks leading the ‘resistance’ tell you to rest, do what they say. What is happening is very heavy. For many of us, especially older adults, the assault on democracy, the trampling of civil rights, and the disintegration of the foundational roles of government constitute a moral injury. At the same time, because of my generational ethos, I feel an obligation to be present and to act for the greater good in any way I can. But it is a burden that I did not expect at this age. I feel supported by action with others – the demonstrations help me as much as they may advance the cause. Being outside in the sun and weather, with the dogs, moving, hearing the birds, seeing the trees budding – that’s rest. Tai chi and chair yoga at the senior center get me out of myself, swimming with my friend makes me laugh. Vying for leftovers with the old man makes life worth living. We continue.