A lot has been happening in this strange year of 2020. Everyone is going through a pandemic and not being able to go out or go to work. They call it “social distancing,” but I would prefer to call it – “physical distancing” so I shall from now on. More on that later.
I haven’t written in a while, I was focusing inward on myself. I went to the doctor in December and realized that I now weighed more than I had ever weighed in my life. That was a shock and I cried. Right there on the scale in the hallway in front of other patients and nurses in the doctor’s office. I have always been chubby but this was an awakening.
I went home and told John that I was now too fat and something needed to be done. So I put the bug in his ear and we went to the YMCA. We were never eating poorly but now we were going to eat even better. Funny thing was our grocery bill actually went down. At the YMCA we started walking and I knew that I was out of shape but my plan was to walk for an hour four or five times a week. John walked at work and then walked with me two nights a week. We were having a fun time. John was very motivating. I actually started to lose weight. By the time physical distancing came about I had almost lost fifteen pounds. I had never lost that much weight before and I was feeling great. Stupid coronavirus.
So now, John is home and working in my office and we are sharing a desk. It’s not bad but he hardly ever listens to music. I always listen to music when I work. Ugh. But really not much has changed for me other than this. It could be worse and for many others it is. I won’t complain about this. But, I wondered what I could do to help someone else.
I decided to try an experiment. My granddaughter is six and she lives in Texas and is currently going to school at home. She logs on to her classes with her teachers and learns the normal things a grade-schooler learns. Her mother is also working from home, is pregnant, dealing with a cooped up little girl and my son. So I thought I could “take Aleena off her hands” for a while every afternoon. Even if it is only for five or ten minutes at a time, maybe she can get a little me time in. I thought I could be physically distant and socially there. My plan may be an exercise in futility as she is only six and can’t sit still for any length of time, I will give it try. My plan is to read a book together.
Thanks to the internet, facetime, two Amazon kindles and J.K. Rowling, Aleena and I are off on an adventure. An adventure I took with her father and her uncle. We are off to Hogwarts.