A perfect Day
James and I have been swimming at McCarren pool every day. We have a routine in which I collect everything we will need for the pool--towels, goggles, white T-shirt for James to change into immediately after getting out of the water, and a snack for him to eat on the way home to avoid any further bouts of disorientation--and we stroll over for our thirty minute work-out. The water has been a little chilly for the past two days--it was a shock to step in--James's body resisted submersion--so unlike the past when he would dive into the pool and glide through the water, unperturbed. I would lose sight of him in a second, similar to a seal reentering the ocean and disappearing in a flash.
Now, we carefully walk across the deck to the staircase. I hop in and guide James's body down the ladder into the water and he gives a little shiver, shock on his face, and tries to keep his chest slightly higher than the waterline. He smiles, though, bends his knees, and he's in the water. The pool has roped off a section for lap swimming during the open swim period. We have not been rising early enough to join the lap swimmers. I decided that I enjoy sleeping in until nine. I told James that we will sleep in for another week or so and then, rejoin the morning lap swimmers at 7:00 am to place ourselves back on schedule. We will need to rise early to take Imogen to summer school and for me to return to work.
Both of us are so tired, every day.
James is able to do the breast and back stroke. Moving his head from side to side for freestyle breathing is too rigorous of a challenge at the moment since it may cause dizziness. I want James to take it slow. Every once in awhile, he will attempt to sneak in a freestyle stroke, turning his head to take a breath and I have to scold him! We also do stretches in the pool that are more excruciating to do at home with gravity pulling his arms down. Plus, everything is a pleasure to do in the water, sun beaming down on us, and the sound of splashing. The McCarren pool is pretty fabulous.
As we walked out of the pool and across the hot concrete today after our swim, James began to sing this Lou Reed song to me:
Just a perfect day
Drink Sangria in the park
And then later
When it gets dark, we go home
Just a perfect day
Feed the animals in the zoo
Then later
A movie, too, and then home
Oh, it's such a perfect day
I'm glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
You just keep me hanging on
Just a perfect day
Problems all left alone
Weekenders on our own
It's such fun
Just a perfect day
You made me forget myself
I thought I was
Somebody else, someone good
Oh it's such a perfect day
I'm glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
You just keep me hanging on
You're going to reap just what you sow
In case, you need to listen to it too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH2lvbdGkfM
James attended his first evening event last night--a book launch by our inspiring friend, Dan Kaufman, for his book, The Fall of Wisconsin. Dan saved two front row seats for us which was so kind. It was a riveting evening and I encourage everyone to go buy his book! Here is a link to a recent piece in the NYTimes by Dan which is an amuse-bouche to the meal of his entire book: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/07/opinion/sunday/progressive-populism-wisconsin-trump.html?
I thank Barbara Campisi for driving us to and from the event and so great to see Kate McKenzie there too! James was a little wobbly walking down the stairs at the end of the talk but he made it through fine. I read him the first chapter so he had some reference, plus, the talks he shared with Dan while the book was in the making!
When I told a friend of ours that we would attend Dan's book launch, the friend was slightly resistant to "political books" saying that by the time they were published, the climate or situation will have changed and the book would no longer be relevant. Dan's book is the absolute opposite. He has written an intriguing, well-researched, damning historical document of a book! It is very pertinent to the current moment but it will hold on, long past the immediate social media news cycle. His book should serve as a catalyst.
Dan has cast a light on what it is to be living in America now, uncovered the political forces that are manipulating power to serve corporate interests, and how this will impact our future. The book also pulls back into the past--to understand how we have arrived at such a place--President Trump's America. It is full of stories about people--not as a means to serve an ideological argument but as examples of what it is to be advocates in a compromised and vanishing moral landscape. We need to stand up and act--not only to vote but get involved locally!
I have to take James to the social security office so that they will issue a letter stating that he is alive. How Kafkaesque is that? One of our applications for aid has been rejected because the federal government believes that James is dead. I have to schedule a time, between doctor's appointments and therapy sessions, to take James and say, "Look, there he is--write a letter saying, yup, he's alive."
I imagine, that day will not be quite as perfect as today.
You're going to reap just what you sow.
Now, we carefully walk across the deck to the staircase. I hop in and guide James's body down the ladder into the water and he gives a little shiver, shock on his face, and tries to keep his chest slightly higher than the waterline. He smiles, though, bends his knees, and he's in the water. The pool has roped off a section for lap swimming during the open swim period. We have not been rising early enough to join the lap swimmers. I decided that I enjoy sleeping in until nine. I told James that we will sleep in for another week or so and then, rejoin the morning lap swimmers at 7:00 am to place ourselves back on schedule. We will need to rise early to take Imogen to summer school and for me to return to work.
Both of us are so tired, every day.
James is able to do the breast and back stroke. Moving his head from side to side for freestyle breathing is too rigorous of a challenge at the moment since it may cause dizziness. I want James to take it slow. Every once in awhile, he will attempt to sneak in a freestyle stroke, turning his head to take a breath and I have to scold him! We also do stretches in the pool that are more excruciating to do at home with gravity pulling his arms down. Plus, everything is a pleasure to do in the water, sun beaming down on us, and the sound of splashing. The McCarren pool is pretty fabulous.
As we walked out of the pool and across the hot concrete today after our swim, James began to sing this Lou Reed song to me:
Just a perfect day
Drink Sangria in the park
And then later
When it gets dark, we go home
Just a perfect day
Feed the animals in the zoo
Then later
A movie, too, and then home
Oh, it's such a perfect day
I'm glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
You just keep me hanging on
Just a perfect day
Problems all left alone
Weekenders on our own
It's such fun
Just a perfect day
You made me forget myself
I thought I was
Somebody else, someone good
Oh it's such a perfect day
I'm glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
You just keep me hanging on
You're going to reap just what you sow
In case, you need to listen to it too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH2lvbdGkfM
James attended his first evening event last night--a book launch by our inspiring friend, Dan Kaufman, for his book, The Fall of Wisconsin. Dan saved two front row seats for us which was so kind. It was a riveting evening and I encourage everyone to go buy his book! Here is a link to a recent piece in the NYTimes by Dan which is an amuse-bouche to the meal of his entire book: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/07/opinion/sunday/progressive-populism-wisconsin-trump.html?
I thank Barbara Campisi for driving us to and from the event and so great to see Kate McKenzie there too! James was a little wobbly walking down the stairs at the end of the talk but he made it through fine. I read him the first chapter so he had some reference, plus, the talks he shared with Dan while the book was in the making!
When I told a friend of ours that we would attend Dan's book launch, the friend was slightly resistant to "political books" saying that by the time they were published, the climate or situation will have changed and the book would no longer be relevant. Dan's book is the absolute opposite. He has written an intriguing, well-researched, damning historical document of a book! It is very pertinent to the current moment but it will hold on, long past the immediate social media news cycle. His book should serve as a catalyst.
Dan has cast a light on what it is to be living in America now, uncovered the political forces that are manipulating power to serve corporate interests, and how this will impact our future. The book also pulls back into the past--to understand how we have arrived at such a place--President Trump's America. It is full of stories about people--not as a means to serve an ideological argument but as examples of what it is to be advocates in a compromised and vanishing moral landscape. We need to stand up and act--not only to vote but get involved locally!
I have to take James to the social security office so that they will issue a letter stating that he is alive. How Kafkaesque is that? One of our applications for aid has been rejected because the federal government believes that James is dead. I have to schedule a time, between doctor's appointments and therapy sessions, to take James and say, "Look, there he is--write a letter saying, yup, he's alive."
I imagine, that day will not be quite as perfect as today.
You're going to reap just what you sow.
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