Yoga on the Bay with Crabs and Old Men

This morning I need to leave.  It’s urgent.  I tell Ross I will see him later.  He asks where I am going and I simply say, “Out”.       

     I need to be out.  Out of doors, outside of the walls.  I find the perfect spot, I think.  I take the stairs so I can sit up above.  Up high,  where I can watch what is happening way below me.  

Up and out.  Here is where the air is breathable. 

     Soft murmurings of the others who are here don’t disturb me, but comfort in an odd way.  

     The man in jeans is engrossed in his book.    I am so curious to know what he is reading.     

     The two couples seated across the way nibble their bagels and sip coffee from their paper cups. They gleefully chat about what a nice spot this is.  I silently agree.

     The street painters in their neon orange shirts stop by,waiting, I guess, for the yellow and white lines to dry.   

        

     The ladies arrive with their mats. They say hello as if I am one of them.   And I am I guess, just not really. 

        "Thirteen to drop in,” the instructor says,  describing the cost of the session.

     They start by taking their shoes off, and sit cross-legged on their pink, blue, purple and lime green mats.

     There are eight and the instructor is nine.   She plugs her portable player in.  The music is so soft that I can barely hear it. I hear flutes, though, I think.

     Kristen, the others call her,  speaks as softly as the calming flute music.

     A woman struggles to climb the steps, the ninth and last one to join.  She is not slim like the others, but as she gets into position and joins in she is as flexible as the others.

     Uh oh, downward dog.  It’s the only yoga instruction I am familiar with.  The less than slim woman says she can’t do the dog.  The instructor says, “Yes you can" and shows her how.

   Sh uh, sh uh, sh uh,  the yogis say.  I figure out that I can pretend to play with my phone and secretly take their pic. 

  

   

  I turn my attention to the picture window view of the bay behind me.  The water does really glisten with tiny sunlit wave top gems. 

 I am entertained by all of the activity down on the dock.   

 Boaters launch their crafts and then sail on by. 

Crabbers patiently wait for their cages to fill up.  

 Loungers relax under their brightly colored chair umbrellas. 

     I observe that each and every person stops along the way to spend a few minutes gazing out over the water.  I wonder what compels us to do that.  Are the answers out there?

     I hear the old men talking somewhere down below.  I can’t see them, but I can hear their gravely
 old-man laughing sounds as they tease each other.  “You talk like an old man”, one old man says to the other.

     The yogis are finished and they are not quiet now.  They gather in pairs and threes to chat.  As they head down the stairs they greet the old men below. 

     I’m going to miss the flutes and the soft speaking instructor when the yogis leave. 

     

     I felt almost invisible sitting in my corner.    And I realize this feeling is one with which I am very familiar.  I am a listener and an observer.

    

So perhaps this is what my blog will become.  I will travel around with my laptop and perch, like the gulls, and just watch what happens.

I have created a page for Anna's Diary.  It can be found under the Tab titled Anna's Diary.

I have posted all of the entries to date there, starting with January 1, 1929.

Here are yesterday and today's entries from Anna’s Diary:
Wed. July 10, 1929
Home Corinne still here.  I went to see her mother.  Had a talk.  Put and Charlie came over.  Made sandwiches in kitchen for them.  Very warm.
Thursday, July 11, 1929
Went to MRs.s Nap at 10:30 a.m. Drove Mr. Nap away to farm in Stockton, NJ.  Wargner’s farm for his health.  Returned at night about 11:30. Overnight at Mrs. Nap.

The Day I Met Pippin’s Mom

She has a Yorkie named Pippin.

This part is played by an actor who looks like the real Pippin.

I have a Maltese named Rico.

This part is played by Rico himself.

Rico and Pippin are buds.   In fact they hit it off the first time they saw each other, which was about three years ago.   Pippin goes for his walks at the same time that Ross or I walk Rico.  So, for the past three years, several times a week, Pippin’s mom and I have been regularly exchanging pleasantries while Pippin and Rico sniff and run around each other.  Pippin and Rico get bored rather quickly, so the conversation between Pippin’s mom and me is usually brief and is mostly about the weather.  

“Hot enough for you?”  "How do you like this weather?”  "Did you survive that snow storm?”  

You know, stuff like that.

Yesterday, as Pippin’s mom and I talked about how our air conditioners have been running non stop because of the unbelievably hot summer we have been having so far, Rico and Pippin started pulling to let us know that they wanted to get on with their walks.   So, Pippin’s mom and I said our usual “have a nice day” and I started to turn around to continue our walk in the opposite direction. 

But, yesterday, something out of the ordinary happened.  Pippin’s mom stopped and asked if everything was okay with me.  She commented that I looked like I had lost a lot of weight.  Normally, my inclination would have been to smile and say, “yea a little” and continue on my way.   Perhaps it was the kindness of her words or maybe it was the concerned look on her face, but this time I blurted out, “My son passed away 7 months ago and I have been having a hard time.”  She expressed how sorry she was to hear that and I felt comforted. 

She confided in me that her daughter recently suffered the loss of her husband from the evil that is cancer and I expressed that I understood.  

We talked quite a few moments more, and by the way, not once mentioning the weather.   When it was time to get going because Rico and Pippin were done being patient, we once again told each other to “have a nice day.”   

“By the way, I said,  my name is Lynda.”  She responded with, “And I am Joan.”

I have created a page for Anna's Diary.  It can be found under the Tab titled Anna's Diary.

I have posted all of the entries to date there, starting with January 1, 1929.

Here are the past four days from Anna’s diary:

Sat. July 6, 1929

Home all day long.  Put and Charlie are in Newark from Quincy Mass.  Staying at upsula.  Ted invited them over for supper.  Corinne and Peg here overnight.

Sunday, July 7, 1929

Put, Ted, Peg, Charlie, Jean and I went to Peg’s at Fort Monmouth for dinner.  Then bathing at Belmar.  Walk in Asbury. On Pier in Long Branch.  Much traffic coming home.  Left 11:30.  home 2:30.

Monday, July 8, 1929

Corinne staying with me for a few days.  Stayed home all day.  She was expecting a call from Bert but missed it by not being at home.

Tues., July 9, 1929

Corinne still here.  We were home all day as sit was extremely warm.  After supper Bert came over to see her and Put and Ted, Jean and I went to Mt Prospect. 

The 24/7 Stuff of Our Life

Yesterday we didn’t do the traditional 4th of July celebrating.  We planned on getting to the beach early.  But it was a dark and stormy morning...
We had no invites to picnics or back yard bar-b-ques.  The kids were off doing their own thing.
So it was just Ross and I trying to somehow make it our own holiday, just the two of us.
In a few days Ross and I will be celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary.
I retired (at a very young age, mind you) 10  years ago and we moved down the shore (that’s Jersey speak for beach).  Since we moved, it has been pretty much just the two of us.
We have been side by side for the usual stuff of life...engagements, weddings, births and deaths. We didn’t have kids together, but together we have kids.
When I think of our years together, it’s the day to day, the 24/7 that is really our stuff of life.
Even though we weren’t young together, we have managed to stuff a lot of stuff into our lives as we grow old older together.

So yesterday, for our 4th, we went to C & G’s Country Cafe in Tom’s River for breakfast and I had red, white and blue waffles.  


After breakfast we went to the mall.  And the two of us together, picked out clothes for me :). Red skinny jeans, a white top and blue jacket.  The looks I got from Ross as I paraded in and out of the dressing room, well my, my it’s as if we were newly weds :)

 As we lunched together on the water at the Bayview Terrace restaurant, Ross pointed out to me where   the township fireworks display would be, if we were so inclined, which we weren’t.  We talked about the plans we have for Sunday.  Plans to attend a different kind of celebration.  A Celebration of Life in honor of Jonathan.   Jonathan and Ross, were first cousins and lived two doors down from each other.  They grew up together and were more like brothers.  Ross and Jon kind of lost touch with each other over the years as they each went their separate ways to do their own life’s stuff.  But, a little while ago, Jon called Ross to tell him that he was very ill.  Jon  was frightened and cried as he told his “brother” that he probably was not going to be around much longer.  And Ross cried when he got the phone call last month that Jon had passed away.  More of life’s stuff.
When we got home we did the stuff we do, the dog walking and the laundry doing, the TV watching and the knitting.   As I sat outside on our front porch in my green L.L.Bean Adirondack chair with the green and white striped cushion,  I thought about the life Ross and I share.   I thought about how my sister Elaine and I joke about how the true test of love is whether you are willing to change your partner’s diapers, when and or if the time comes.   I am and I will.
By the way, Ross, thank-you for rescuing me from that evil frog who was sitting under my green and white striped L.L.Bean cushion.

He’s Real

Today is July 5.  It has been 7 months since my Joey passed away.  Ross has held me and comforted me every one of those 214 days.
I miss my son.

I have created a page for Anna's Diary.  It can be found under the Tab titled Anna's Diary.

I have posted all of the entries to date there, starting with January 1, 1929.

Here are yesterday and today’s entries from Anna’s diary:
Thurs. July 4, 1929
Fourth of July.  Went to 360 and went to cemetery with Mother and Father.  Went to see Grandma M.  Took her out for a ride then went to Mrs. Nap to shoot Baby’s fireworks.
Friday, July 5, 1929
Mae Harrison came over for lunch.  We had a long talk.  She told me all about the trouble she is having with her husband and another woman very sad.