Let down to vegetation

Brady went home Friday afternoon so I was “free” to isolate and vegetate – something I knew was coming. I have been on sites this afternoon looking looking for a young adult dog. In many ways it feels like too much responsibility for my currently unstructured life but I think I am going to need something to get me out of my condo. Thus far my Nashville existence has been limited by quarantine. The country “awakened” while I was on the road. Now I am back I a state that has one of the lowest vaccination rates and is in the highest category of reported Delta variant cases in the US. Davidson County where Nashville is has a vaccination rate that puts it in the top third of vaccination rates in the states but has less than 50% that are fully vaccinated. I had hoped to have my 65th birthday party (delayed by a year) in November but I just can’t get comfortable with idea. I will have a party in Nashville at some point, but not this year.

While vegetating I found “Good Trouble” on Hulu. The first season was in 2018. It is a young adult dramedy that is addressing all types of inequity and shaming – race, LGBTQ, ethnicity and being overweight. The writers do a really nice job of demonstrating unintentional micoraggressions. I am getting more comfortable having conversations about inequity. A week ago at a Gourmet Club gathering a woman made a statement that she thought it was wrong that the armed services was paying for gender affirming surgery for active duty service members. As a guest, it would have been easiest to say nothing but I decided to “not let it go”. I suggested that for those of us who feel comfortable in the body we were born in, it is really difficult to understand those who feel as if they were born into the wrong body. If an individual is enlisted, actively serving our country and has a health issue to be addressed, it deserves to be addressed like any other health issue. We also discussed that gender affirming surgeries were not necessarily complicated or expensive. The desire for ‘top surgery” is higher than for “bottom surgery”. It felt like a baby step for me.

I have been reflecting on what I learned on my travels and will begin to share these thoughts as they occur.

• Ohio was the best state for cycling – I cycled in NE, Central and SW part of state and it was great everywhere. This was unexpected.
• Cycling and driving on county roads/trails through cornfields feeds my soul
• While I am a profound introvert, I really enjoyed being around friends. After a year of limited socialization, I was not sure how it would work to be around people every day but it was great!!
• I have so many wonderful friends – my journey included friends from grade school and college through my most recent location, Washington DC. I cannot wait to get out to Seattle as that decade was not a part of this trip.
• I loved being invited into friend’s homes – having the time to have random and deeper conversations than can occur over more structured gatherings. I learned so many interesting things about friends that I did not know before.
• I can make wise eating choices and use cycling to burn calories to avoid weight gain
• I am very tired of not having normal taste and smell. I don’t think it has recovered much in the last 6 weeks. I taste spicy, vinegary, and citrus pretty reliably as well as chocolate and strong coffee. I can taste some red and white wines well and others not at all. While I am grateful that I do not have residual fatigue or cardiac or respiratory challenges, I do hope to recover more taste/smell over time.

I have avoided “adulating” the past several days and need to start taking care of few things tomorrow – wish me luck!!