SOL4: Skip, or Catch-up?

Yesterday was too busy a day, even though I had some time in the morning, but because I feel tied to the idea that a “slice of life” has to be a slice of TODAY’S life, I didn't post then. So here’s what happened yesterday.

            There was a movie I wanted to see, “Beanpole,” a Russian film that was the topic for a movie discussion group I missed while on vacation. So that was my first activity of the day. More about movie later. Next, I had to eat lunch. Third, the gym. By the time I was done there, it was almost time to meet my women’s group, but fourth, a stop at the bank.

            Then, women’s group at a restaurant, where we discussed politics, travel plans, and then our topic of the month, which was continuing through a series of life assessment questions that one of our members uses with her undergraduate class on Biography. This evening’s questions included “What is your biggest regret?” “What would your friends say is your best trait?” and “What would you say is your worst trait?”

            The three women who were divorced all said their biggest regret was marrying the man they later divorced. My biggest regret: leaving my second Antioch College co-op job in L.A. (if you don’t know, this school alternated three months of school on campus with three months of a job anywhere in the country; the college was resurrected nine years ago after being killed off five years before that); it was fall 1961, I was barely 19, there were only two other Antioch students in jobs in the Los Angeles area, and I knew no one else. If only I had recognized my fear and loneliness as severe homesickness instead of an incipient nervous breakdown. Fortunately, I made it back to Antioch that winter, and two more jobs in the spring and summer of 1962.

            Once home from the women’s group, I had another project to work on for a workshop on women in Eastern Europe I’ve been co-moderating for almost 30 years. It wasn’t until almost 11:30 that I realized I hadn’t sliced yet. And there was so much I could have offered.

            And about the movie? I’m going to slice twice today, and hope that is not cheating.

-------------------------------------

I’m participating in the 13th annual Slice of Life Challenge over at Two Writing Teachers. This is day 5 of the 31-day challenge.  It’s not too late to make space for daily writing in a community that is encouraging, enthusiastic, and eager to read what you have to slice about.  Join in!

SOLTuesday: Another Busy Day, Back Home

            So much has happened today, since I came home last night at 1 a.m. It hasn't even been 24 hours, but here are my accomplishments:

• unpacked,

• sorted through worn clothes from the suitcase,

• had breakfast,

• started the laundry in my building’s basement,

• forgot that I’d intended to go to the gym first,

• forgot to pay for the clothes in the dryer,

• learned some gossip about the vacant apartment next door to me,

• had a long conversation with my brother about some of his family dysfunction,

• had a conversation with my daughter about her fall a couple of days ago (she’s okay),

• gone shopping for lunch and ingredients for dinner tonight,

• called a friend visiting from California about getting together,

• went to the gym,

• came home,

• made soup with leftover chicken carcass from the freezer and spelt,

• now watching the Democratic presidential candidates’ debate.

            I still have to sort through two weeks’ worth of mail (I’ve already tossed a large flyer for cosmetic dentistry) and go through the travel receipts to see how big my next credit card bill will be. That’s a good job for the debate to go on in the background.

-------------------------------------

It’s Slice of Life Tuesday over at Two Writing Teachers. Check out this encouraging and enthusiastic writing community and their slices of life every Tuesday. And add one of your own.

SOLTuesday: How Much Does That Phone Weigh?

I’m in the weight room at the gym. The area by the free weights is packed with men. There are usually four benches here, but tonight there are six, and a seventh nearby. Usually, I would have left with so many men in this area, but there's a free bench at the end, so I take it.
     I take my five-pound weights from the racks and seven-pound weights from a table where small weights are piled on top of each other, and keep them by my bench. This way, I can do my shoulder and arm exercises without having to go back and forth to the racks.
     Putting back the five-pound weights, I see that someone has put his phone on one of the empty five-pound spaces. What is wrong with these people? Fortunately, there is space for my weights, and I don't have to wonder whether I will put my weight on top of some guy's phone.

-------------------------------------

It’s Slice of Life Tuesday over at Two Writing Teachers. Check out this encouraging and enthusiastic writing community and their slices of life every Tuesday. And add one of your own.

Blogging A-Z: G Is for Gym

            Jack went to the gym almost every day for the last 30 years of his life.

            He wasn’t particularly athletic when we first met, sometimes joking that the most exercise he got was lifting his glass-holding hand to his lips. But a few years after we moved to New York, we decided to learn to ride bikes. Mostly we biked around Central Park or Riverside Park; this was long before bike lanes, and biking on city streets faced hazards from both moving and stationary vehicles.

            We always walked a lot, well, at least Jack walked a lot. He sometimes told the story about walking to school as a teenager. Because he didn’t have a car, he was embarrassed about walking, and later found out that students admired him for walking. We walked around the neighborhood, but also in Riverside Park, down along the river and back.

            Especially in the summertime, with a cool breeze off the water, this was fun. A few times we walked across the George Washington Bridge and into Palisades Park, once climbing down giant rocks to near the river. Another time we took the ferry to Staten Island and walked eight miles to Richmondtown.

            In the ’70s, Jack took up running. At first he ran along the outside of Riverside Park. Then he discovered the track down in the park near 72nd Street. That was his favorite. I tried running, too, but soon I had to tape my ankles, and after another year or so, I was taping my knees. And since I could never make myself run farther than a mile and a quarter, I went back to the long exercise walk.

            When I started teaching at NYU and got a family membership to the gym, Jack took to it immediately. No longer did the weather stand in the way of getting his endorphin hit. When it looked like I wouldn’t get tenure, he searched around and found the West Side YMCA. He’d taken Christie there for swimming lessons years earlier, and the gym and locker rooms had been considerably refurbished since.

            He loved the Y. He rode the stationary bike long before there were TV screens for distraction, for an hour at least. He had friends there, both men and women. He’d bring home stories, most of which I’ve forgotten. Sometimes he tried the weight machines, but mostly he just wanted to bike. Even after his blood-clotting disorder, he missed a few months, but was back as soon as he could.

            His fall, however, stopped him. He never went back to the gym, and it was never clear whether he was embarrassed about how feeble he had become or simply didn’t want to talk about what happened. He went to physical therapy and kept up his exercises at home. I bought him weights to help. I also kept renewing our family membership, even though I wasn’t going as regularly as I should have. I did tell Zaida, who worked at the “towel-desk” and always asked after him when he died.

            Ever since, I’ve had mixed feelings about the Y. I keep going back, much more regularly now, but there’s hardly anyone left who knew Jack and knew that he and I were together. The Y is one of the most diverse places I spend time, which is important to me. But will I continue to go there, or find another gym or health club? I don’t know. 

------------------------------------------

April’s writing challenge is to blog every day, with each post beginning with a letter of the alphabet from beginning to end. We skip Sundays, except for April 1, so as to have 26 days in the month.