Holidays

I've always been a watcher. When I got my first Brownie Instamatic camera at age 8, it was just after my Aunt Rose's church wedding down the street. We were all gathered in the backyard. My sister had the family pose all dressed up standing in front of our Japanese maple tree. Luckily my sister didn't notice I was missing. I was off photographing her photographing the family.

When we got older and my sister was chasing the neighborhood boys around the yard. I was in the tree house contemplating the snowfall. Loving the quiet.

As with most holidays I prefer to be in the kitchen, backstage, watching, overhearing other peoples conversations.

I like to walk around and just be the watcher. Other people play the leading roles showing up well dressed with bouquets of flowers or cooked roasts. I'd rather just take a long walk and admire the daffodils and flowering trees and soak up the space left by other peoples lives.

One July 4th many years ago my husband was rowing our wooden boat on Spring Lake, slowly circling the pond. I followed alongside, swimming. Each family was having a Fourth of July picnic facing the water. We were enjoying having a view of them.

This year we will bake a piece of fish with rice and make chinese-spicy garlic stir-fried broccoli and sit down and think about what we are grateful for. Our health, each other, our pets, our city, our neighborhood, our distant families. We are both introverts. Life isn't terribly different for us during this pandemic but the backdrop of a potential deadly sickness is frightening for us, as it is for everyone.

4/9/2020