This morning, the first thing my wife said to me was, “I need to get out of this house…I need to do something different and feel HUMAN again!” My son and his girlfriend both shook their heads in agreement and were waiting for my reaction.
Clearly, the natives were getting a little restless! I needed to think quickly.
The pandemic has made us all feel so isolated. We are desperate to be engaged in activities we enjoy and have missed for so long. The last time I think I felt truly human was in this photo on my favorite beach in Aruba, dining in our own private hut, at sunset. This was a few weeks before the global lockdown. Shortly thereafter, life as we knew it ceased to exist. I remember at that moment in time on the beach feeling calm, trouble-free, and detached from all the problems I left behind at home. It was, as I recall, a little slice of heaven! So, I decided we should take a drive to the shore, 20 minutes away, and see if we could capture some of that Zen-like atmosphere. I wanted to try and be human again.
The reality, though, is that is not at all what being human really feels like. Far from it. Feeling human that day…and most days…was actually something very different for sure.
Being human was first digging our car out of a mound of snow that had been piling up for days. Being human was driving to the local sandwich shop and buying sandwiches and coffees, which all fell into street as I was getting back behind the wheel. Being human was navigating the roads in a driving rainstorm with very limited visibility. Being human was sitting in an empty parking lot, with the view of the sand dunes and ocean completely blocked by the rain pelting the windshield. Being human was eating a turkey sandwich, while the mayo and lettuce was dripping all over my coat. And being human was trying to relax while sitting on hold with a doctor’s office attempting to schedule an appointment, while listening to an endless loop of that all too familiar phrase, “we appreciate your patience…your call is very important to us”. What a fun outing that was!
I guess it’s absolutely normal to feel nostalgic about all of life’s special treasures and treats that have fallen temporarily by the wayside during the pandemic. How I miss vacations, dinners out, ballgames, theater, concerts and interactions with friends. But these are not events which make us “human.” It’s the daily stuff…the ups and downs, the laughter and the crying, the moments of joy and the moments of sorrow. The yin and yang of life is what makes us feel human. The perspectives gained from the high points and low points in life are incredibly valuable, as they help us to embrace balance. The ups and downs keep us from getting too comfortable in either direction.
These unusual times serve as a reminder that we can conquer anything, when we embrace what is most precious and meaningful. We learn to adjust and find ways to appreciate the simple pleasures. Our daily challenges these days are a far cry from the perfection of sitting in that beach hut, but it is precisely those imperfections which define us all as truly human.
Here is something overheard on the way home from the beach…
Me: “See honey, wasn’t that fun?! Great to get out the house, right?!”
My wife: “I heard Jet Blue is running specials to the Caribbean…why don’t you check that out”
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