Summer Plans, with Guest Blogger Susan Matysse

I planned well for this summer, and then I forgot I did.

So this is Middle Age.  It consists of me agonizing at how our white “summer” bathrobes are still buried deep in our cardboard boxes and that “it’s about bloody time we unpack those suckers now that the weather is too warm for our thick bathrobes”...

...only to see that, in fact, both summer robes are already hanging in the closet, albeit a little too far back behind the door for me to see until I finally took notice of them four days ago.

Here’s how this happened:

Last September, when we packed everything for moving from the River Tides apartment into our newly purchased co-op right next door, we agreed not to bury the swimsuits and white robes in a box, but just carry them all in a suitcase for ease of unpacking and storing. The swimming pool season had just ended, but we were determined to keep this summer stuff in easy reach, not only in preparation for June of 2022 but also in case we find ourselves a hotel swimming pool anytime during winter and spring.

And I clearly remembered being mindful of the swim wear, but completely blanked on doing the same for the robes.

How to explain it?  My therapist would tell me not to be too hard on myself and that the process of moving, even this short a distance, is stressful enough to cause a few little memory holes like the one I struggled with just now.

Good therapy session. That explains that.

I also remember that we did in fact plan on a two night stay in our old favorite Marriott hotel up on White Plains Road for a swim in mid January (and for free with my Reward Points!), but ended up canceling when I fell ill shortly after our Covid booster shot.  Which was for the best because their pool was closed anyway.

So we’ve all gone through stress trying to come out of the pandemic of 20-21, not just John and me.  It kind of amazes me that the country has returned to functioning as well as it has.

Maybe next year I’ll try getting on the prog-rock Cruise to the Edge!

- SKM