Episode 18: Yoga Breathing in Minnesota, a Taste of Retirement on the Mississippi River, and an Internet Friend/Stranger in Florida --- Sushmi, Jim, and Tamára
You and Me and Everyone We Know is an audio diary made by everyday people living through the Covid-19 pandemic, and in today's episode, we are led through a breathing exercise from a yoga teacher in Minnesota. Plus we hear from the founder of a home-remodeling company getting a taste of retirement during the pandemic. And I talk for the first time to a friend I made online ten years ago. Press play below to listen to the latest episode (or find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play Music, and Stitcher):
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In the first part of this episode, we’re talking to Sushmi. Sushmi and I are part of the same writing group, a cohort of students who signed up for a year long writing project at the Loft Literary Center in January. We were in the middle of a course of in-person classes when the stay-at-home order hit in Minnesota. Since then we’ve seen each other every week online. As part of the same cohort, we’ve each been writing a book with the goal of finishing it this year. We’ve read sections of each other’s work along the way. Sushmi’s book is about health and wellness, and in our last in-person class session, I asked if she could help us all calm down by leading us in a breathing exercise. So when we talked on April 7, I asked again, and Sushmi was kind enough to lead another breathing exercise for me and for everyone listening…
In the second part of this episode we’re talking to Jim. Jim started building and remodeling homes in 1976. He built a business that now has helped many families make their home dreams come true. When we talked on April 28, Jim was surprised by how much he was enjoying quarantine… mostly because it was giving him a taste of what life could be like when he retires…
In the last part of this episode, we talk to Tamára. Tamára and I met on the internet about ten years ago. Honestly, who knows how we found each other. At the time, I’d been writing a blog during Peace Corps, and from what I remember, Tamára wrote often about her spirituality and how she practiced her religious beliefs in her everyday life. We each read the other’s writing and got to know each other like pen pals. Both of us fell out of that blogging life and later found each other somehow on Instagram. When I said I was doing this podcast, Tamára graciously volunteered. And when we finally got on the phone to record on April 14, even though we’d known each other for ten years, it was the first time I’d actually ever heard Tamára’s voice…
Here's some of the things we talked about in this episode:
Covid-19 and...
-Kids
-The Loft Literary Center Year-long Writing Project
-Seniors in High School
-Parenting older teens during the pandemic
-Sayings that help you get through a pandemic.
-“I’m in charge.”
-Blogging
-Quarantine jokes
-A family on the same street
-Biking to Grammie’s
-David Sedaris
-What we miss about religion
-Schitt’s Creek
-Moira’s wigs
-David’s clothes
-Remembering your who
-Retirement
-Mississippi River bluffs
-Bald eagles nesting
-The luxury of space
-Older people alone
-Home projects
-Decluttering
-First aid kit for your emotions
-Wit and Delight
Links:
Find Jim's remodeling company here: https://www.mcdonaldremodeling.com/
You can find the last comment Tamára ever made on this blog (in 2011!) here: https://atomic-temporary-10558736.wpcomstaging.com/knit-hate/
Thank you for listening.
And thank you to Sushmi, Jim and Tamára for coming on the podcast and for connecting with all of us.
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If YOU, dear listener, want to be part of this podcast go to heybrentlove.com and tap coronavirus podcast on the menu or find me on Instagram @ heybrentlove.