The In-Between Times

This re-emerging from the pandemic is not for the faint of heart. But it can also be rewarding (if weird!)

Last night we got dressed up and parked in a parking ramp and went to an actual PARTY, on the rooftop of  the new Dayton's Project (our friend Whitney's divorce party, and one of the first events to be held in the new space). There was a musician, and dancing. There was food and a great bar. There were incredible views and interesting people to talk to. There was a baby blowing kisses. We got to be on a date. In other words, it would have been a fantastic party in the Before Times, and after 14 months of isolation it was amazing, easily one of the best parties I have attended in my life (and very Intsa-gramable).









This morning, while Beatrix was filming for the school Spring Showcase, Patrick and I went to go help out at Lookout Park. There's a group of us who keep it up, and many hands make light work, even if part of it is just stopping to catch up and talk.

Before:

After:


We had promised Brutus a taproom, so we headed over to the ChromaZone festival in the CEZ and Urban Growler. After walking around and checking out the art, we ran into our friends Rene and Christoph and stopped to enjoy a beer with them, allowing Brutus to people-watch.



Then we came home and did more traditionally pandemic-y things. I worked on our own yard for quite some time, cleaning up the raised beds and planting some flowers and vegetables. And we got to see the online performances of the SPA Community Choir I sang with:
I Love You/What a Wonderful World - https://youtu.be/MfTh5EynjtM
How Can I Keep From Singing - https://youtu.be/P-ztOv1CKRs

It's been a long year, with some parts easier than others, and some parts  a lot harder. The challenge now is to find the way to keep the best of all worlds. Today felt like a step towards that. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Do We Mean When We Talk About Race?

Image
 (sign from a NOLA bar) Probably the world does not need another middle-aged, white, cisgender woman writing about race. But the world DOES need my daughter's take on it, and she doesn't blog, so here I am. When we first knew we were having a girl, we knew she would have blue eyes, because mine are blue-grey and Patrick's are blue-green. The genetics don't vary much on that one. Other than that, we thought, with dominant genes and some luck, that she might look like her Aunt Patrice. Which she actually does. Except for the tiny little issue that somehow my Nordic genes totally went dominant rogue and she turned out to be blonde and very light skinned. (age 1.5 in the Scow family christening dress) So since she's been old enough to communicate, she's had people confused about her racial identity. She's been told she checked the wrong box on forms, she's had teachers deny her ancestry, she's had government officials question her Global Entry, she's
Read more

New Year's Eve 2023

Image
I did not want to be laying in bed, wearing a fleece onesie and still shivering, while my husband and daughter headed out to the several wonderful NYE parties we have planned. I have a beautiful new dress that I got in Duluth for tonight, and was looking forward to the collection of friends we would be seeing. Our friend Whitney in particular is throwing the last party at her B and B, and it's breaking my heart not to go. But I feel logey and coughy, and more to the point, I have a low fever, and I don't want to mess around with possibly getting anyone sick. I'm still holding out hope that I'll miraculously feel better and the fever was a mistaken reading, but I doubt that. And I feel lucky to have 3 sets of people who want me in their lives tonight and who I don't want to get sick. As our yoga teacher Viv says, it's not like a page turns and everything is magic. You get some things that are good, and some that are not, and life is living in the middle. -- In 20
Read more

Choosing Happy

Image
This post is brought to you by a few thoughts from yesterday: First and foremost, Patrick's new book that he wrote for Beatrix for her sixteenth birthday. Available for a hot second before we leave for spring break tomorrow. The response of someone he knows on the internet, who wrote yesterday that he had decided years ago that he would never be happy (and reading his posts, he seems to be right.). It was one of the saddest things I've encountered in a long time. A friend's social media post, in which she discusses another person's comment of " I really think a sizable proportion of the population has become addicted to being angry" with the sage response of " I think a lot of them are doing it because it's more enjoyable to be angry than to be depressed." A nd we finally finished watching this season's Fargo last night. I won't give any spoilers, but it's extremely on theme with this post. So this is the deal. There's a lot on
Read more