We live by clocks and calendars all of our lives. Now, I rarely look at either one because we have no appointments, no meetings, no dinner engagements and no babysitting. I woke up on Sunday and asked my husband if it was Friday, he looked at me with a half-smile and said, “nope it’s Sunday.” I could not believe that I lost two days somewhere. The coronavirus with all of the negatives it has brought into our lives has forced us to smell the roses and spend quality time with our families and/or friends when possible. Since time is no longer the leader of our every moment a lot of us have renewed our satisfaction in eating three meals a day together at home, parents are finding the time to really get to know their children and kindness towards each other appears to be sprouting as fast as the virus. We will come out of this knowing way more than we ever wanted to know about each other, and that, hopefully, is a good thing. I can accept the fact that when I present myself to the world again I might not be recognizable. The gray in my hair is looking for sunshine like flowers in winter. It wants to be free and finally admit that it’s not 30-year-old hair anymore, it is now 66 and not so hot. My pants will probably be a little tighter due to our latest home cooked dinner plans but bless the person who invented stretchy yoga pants. I think most of us have told ourselves that at a time like this, we could finish projects that have been taunting us unfinished for years. Some of us have followed through on the great completion dream, but like myself, a lot of us are struggling to find the motivation. So what’s next? I decided to work on myself instead of my house. I began with yoga but decided that downward dog could really hurt me. Next was a Latin dance exercise video, the hips, how do they move like that? The latest was meditation. I’ve tried to find my inner peace but my mind wanders to those exciting dinner plans more often than not. With a feeling of failure tugging at my mind, I realized that this episode in our lives will pass and we don’t have to remake our world. Our job for now, is to stay the course and to keep ourselves safe while checking in on family and friends. Of course if my husband can touch up my roots without any deafening sighs, that would be the icing on the cake!

Peggy Rocha, Cindy Moreno, Ann Shaddix and I are the organizers for “The Escalon Senior Fun Bunch”. We will continue our once a month events for Escalon Seniors along with Yoga classes as soon as it is safe to do so. We are concerned about all seniors and their needs. Please be careful and protect yourselves. We will be calling seniors that have signed in at our events just to make sure everyone is okay. If you are alone and in need of anything please let us know. Email: annshaddix@yahoo.com.