Surviving the Pandemic Gracefully

In the Goodman household, the Great Pandemic of 2020 (GP20) has been about both family togetherness and separation, communal meal planning and enjoyment (from concept to shopping to clean up), too many hours of news updates and analysis, and a whole lot of clean up— personally and domestically.

So far, we have been blessed with good health, more accord than discord, and lots of time to use both wisely and wastefully.  (Though to challenge the last adverb, I turn to a sign that Audrey gave me a few years ago and which is posted in a prominent place in our home office: “The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”)

Even before the word went out governmentally to “shelter in place,” Amanda decided to leave her solitude in NYC to join with her parents in New Jersey. It was a wise decision, I think we all agree. Brett was slower to make a decision to flee to his old home, and, indeed, more resolute in deciding  to remain independent in Astoria, where he and his newly adopted dog, Mike the Beagle, have set up a cozy household. What he has lost in joining in face-to-face communications and in having meals planned and prepared by others, he has gained in enjoying the special “one-ness” that is uniquely Brett. We stay connected by texting often, and will be crossing the divide with him electronically tonight with a planned Face-Time chat. So our face-to-face will actually be screen-to-screen. Togetherness and separation, it seems, are equal parts of GP20.

Amanda and her friend Melissa in a pas de deux

But the most visible positive outcome of our time sheltering has been the efforts we have all made to empty boxes, clean out file cabinets, and recycle dozens of years' worth and many reams of paper. The cleanup could be going faster, of course, if we didn’t stop continually to inspect and then share aloud some of the masterpieces each of put into writing or typing over the years.

A story collection hidden away for too long.

Of particular note was a collection of anecdotes and observations that Amanda incorporated in fourth grade into a notebook entitled “Amanda’s Writing Stories.”  (The notebook has been buried in a plastic container in our basement since before the millennium.) 

It includes two priceless pieces. One is “Fourth Grade Memories” written jointly with Julia Bullaro—a single-page work that is nevertheless divided into three (brief) chapters.  The second is a vivid description of the evening when she and her Mom attended a performance by noted modern-dance choreographer Twyla Tharp and her dance company. 

What made that evening so memorable? I will let Amanda describe it:

My mom and I take modern dance, so my mom wanted to show me some different kinds of dance. So we went to see Twyla Tharp playing in NY.

When we got there, we went to our seats and talked. I looked on the stage. This was very peculiar because the dancers were on stage warming up so we could see them. .

Then the lights faded and the dancers went offstage. The one and only Twyla Tharp then came out. She started to dance. The music was real jazzy. When she was done, she was out of breath. Then the other dancers came onstage. They were beautiful. They went on and offstage. They kept repeating, and other dancers did different steps.

Then Twyla Tharp went back out and said anyone in the audience could go on stage. Oh, no, my mom was going on stage! My mom hid in the back, but I could still see her. The steps looked hard to me. My mom also had a little trouble. Finally, they could go back to their seats. But Twyla picked two people to do the steps by themselves. Luckily, my mom wasn’t one…

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Another group of dancers (from the company) went on stage. They were so graceful that I wanted to get up and dance with them. I was picturing myself being lifted in the air like the other women dancers. I would be the first 9-year-old to dance with Twyla Tharp. I would be famous. But I wasn’t. When I stopped the dreaming, the show was over. I thought it was outstanding!!!!

As Amanda read the story aloud to us, she was beaming. She was reliving something special that had been hidden away far too long.

The Great Pandemic of 2020 is a frightening, terrible event that is only beginning to impact our lives.  But for a few minutes, it had indirectly led to something beautiful and memorable in a positive way – much like the family togetherness that has been our salvation so far.