In my Soul, I am Free

We are in the middle of summer. In the southwest, we never know when the summer will end. But there is more activity outside and less of a rush.

Now the COVID-19 pandemic has locked over 91% of the world’s population down. But lockdown need not mean locked up

My joy has been in bike rides, to Lacy Park in San Marino and back. The five-mile round trip makes me leap out of the house, out the door. It feels like a tickle and I’m a girl again.

On my first ride there, I raced to go as far and fast as my feet and lungs would carry me.

I saw people doing The Macarena. The beat! They were jumping in time, spilling pink and yellow drinks topped with candied cherries and thick, juicy, dribbling chunks of pineapple.

Dogs were sniffing out the sweaty, sensual, remnants of the picnickers’ leftover crumbs.

Some were practicing yoga while others lie on their backs in the open air, under open skies waiting perhaps for later when they could count the stars. It’s been a while.

When all this is over, when confinement ends, who knows when or where or who we and the world will be when life begins again.

Meanwhile, amid lockdown, confinement, I see the last of the gardenias that bloomed late this year. White and resplendent.

“I realized, through it all, that… In the midst of this year, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”

And next year, when I greet another summer, I will probably go for a walk. Not just any walk, but a long one, not to the grocery store or around the block. Shops will be open, non-essential ones selling bathing suits, sunglasses, and flowers. There will be tables and chairs set outside coffee shops. There will be people, sitting, not alone, drinking coffee or tea. No face masks. And there will be the sun.