Emerging from a week of a cold. Kinda, sorta awful, but nowhere near as bad as last January with RSV.  I’ve coughed and had swollen—or what feels like swollen—sinuses. A quick nurse video visit with advice, no cure last week right after my birthday weekend. Not wanting to get any sicker than I was, not wanting to feel worse than yesterday’s death, I made a morning and evening list of mostly non-negotiable tasks which I have been following.

And yes, very slowly, or so it seems, getting better. 

Still coughing and exhausted.  I have exactly a week before the HILR spring semester and I am aiming for full, or almost full, recovery by then.  

The gym and physical activity are suffering right now, but I am taking the fact that I am missing physical activity as a good sign of recovery. No way was I thinking about exercise last week.  

The cold—the weather cold— feels very oppressive.  Gentle walking feeling impossible and that will last longer than a week.

Julia went to her first K-pop dance class last week.  She has wanted to learn K-pop dance and I’ve been looking for a suitable class or teacher for a few months.  A few very promising leads fell through—no real beginning class, too expensive for private lessons, no studio space for a teacher I thought would work out.  Finally, the daughter of a friend led me to a small studio that never came up on any Google search.  Run by a bunch of young Asian women, probably students, many of whom have pink hair. When I mentioned the pink hair to someone she wondered if it was inspired by Kpop Demon Hunters, the movie, and perhaps she is right.

Anyway, the studio offers a “starter” class for those who have never danced and Julia went to her first class on Thursday.  The way the studio is set up, I could not see how she did, but she was happy when she came out after 90 minutes. People were not overly friendly —just dancers getting ready, going or leaving class—but not unfriendly.  

Community. Community. Community. And I remember that community is so much more my concern than hers.

I just bought tickets to visit Hanoi in the spring.  We’ve been invited to a high school graduation of the son of the young woman Ed has guided since she was a teen. Leaving is still months away, but it feels just a little bit like spring or summer! I am looking for someone to be a companion/guide/mentor for Julia while we are in Hanoi. I briefly flirted with this idea last time we travelled. This time I will send out feelers and follow up on any clue. It would be good for Julia to go a few places without me—for a morning or afternoon or a day, possibly somewhere to do an art or craft, a museum, a park.  I am open.

A week from a few days from today, I will be part of a reading of Shakespeare scenes to celebrate Valentine’s Day at HILR. Another toe into Shakespeare. I have stopped saying that “I’ve never, I didn’t dare, I have been afraid . . . “, I begin to admit that it is fun. There is such challenge in taking on those words— there are so many of them! Beautiful, yes, but hard to wrap my mouth around and to find meaning and emotion. I am doing the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, and a more life-experienced and older Juliet, there may never have been. It will be a small audience, and I will know most of them—so much like life in the avant-garde theater and performance art scene of my 20s. As long as it looks like I’ve done some prep work, no one will be unkind. 

Off to a doc appointment for Ed in a few minutes—Drive him and wait. His car was hit by a bike last week. The bike smashed one of his tail lights, and he doesn’t have a directional blinker on that side. He was advised not to drive it until it is fixed. His cold has become much worse than mine. Maybe it is not just the cold. Whatever and wherever, it is the morning outing after which I will take a nap.

Ah, naps! 

Julia has not really gotten sick, or not like Ed and I have. She did want to sleep a lot last weekend. I am taking that as her version of our cold. 

And that is it. Empty of news and doings.