Healthy
2020
As some
of you may remember from Bea’s email that
I recently celebrated my 80th birthday, on 3/7/20. Although the Coronavirus had begun to rear
its ugly head in the US by then, it was not alarming enough to have the event
cancelled. In retrospect, I felt so
incredibly lucky about the timing of the party, and I was grateful that so many
friends, former colleagues, high school and college classmates, relatives, and
family members came to the celebration .
Since
our Governor (California) issued the shelter-in-place order on Mar 16, I have
been keeping myself busy both mentally and physically. In addition to calling/facetiming family
members and close friends, I also made a conscientious effort to call some of
the friends and classmates, just to stay
in touch. My Bookclub, after being
cancelled for the March meeting, resumed in April, via Zoom. It was a fun and interesting learning
experience. I am thankful that this
technology enables us to be apart and yet be together. I even had an Easter family get together,
Zoom style, since we are in three different locations. ( By the way, I had not
seen my family members for five weeks by then!)
Another mental exercise I do is playing bridge online. I am passionate about bridge, and I want to
express my deep gratitude to Frank Hwang, who taught me this wonderful game
during our freshman year in Taida. (The
truth was that it takes 4 people to play the game. Frank was dating Eileen at that time. However,
Eileen, Monica, and I were inseparable most of the time, because we were from
the same class in high school. So,
Monica and I learned to play bridge by default, thanks to Frank’s romantic
pursuit of Eileen. The rest, as they say, is history.) Regardless, I am forever
grateful to Frank.
One of the undeniable facts is that we all get weaker as we get older. I have always been physically active, playing tennis for over 30 years, and golf, the past 12 years. However, three years ago, while hiking upward at a state park with my grandkids, I was experiencing severe heart poundings. So severe that I thought I might suffer a heart attack! Upon returning home, I resolved to improve my stamina. I engaged the help of a personal trainer, because I knew I would not be disciplined enough to do it on my own! (I was also inspired by Justice Ruth Ginsberg and her work out!) During the past 6 weeks of lock down, the trainer came to my house to continue the twice weekly sessions with me by using only a few low-tech gadgets, like balls, free weights, bands, etc. The efforts paid off! I had my first “post coronavirus” golf game yesterday morning, and I played as well as I did before the 6-week involuntary hiatus. It was great to be able to resume some level of “normal life” again! It was such joy! I felt euphoric the rest of the day! Oh, I should mention that I have also been walking about two miles two to three times a week, weather permitting, during the past three years. I listen to audio books while I walk, which makes the time goes by fast.
As the
saying goes, ”when life gives you lemons, make lemonade” Now that I am 80, older and wiser
(hopefully), I am sure that there will still be many more lemons ahead for me
to make lemonade. Covid lemonade,
anyone?
|
|
