Thoughts on Soup and Spin Class on the Summer Solstice

It is the summer solstice, and I am making a wintry soup, a pot of broccoli cheddar cheese soup.  I had vegetables that weren't going to last much longer, and I love this soup.  Once I ate it year round.  Then I had it mainly when I went to Panera to meet friends.  Lately, I haven't had it at all.  So, today we'll have soup.

I saw a stunning sunrise this morning, which seemed appropriate for the morning of the summer solstice.  For the past 3 months, I've been walking almost every morning, and lately, I've been getting out a bit earlier.  I have always tried to time my walks so that I could see the sunrise, and now I want to get home shortly after sunrise.  It gets so hot and often steamy once the sun is up.

This week was the week where I cancelled my membership with the small gym that's part of the Wellness Center that's at Broward General Hospital.  I haven't been there since it closed on March 18.  It re-opened near the end of May, and classes resumed June 1.  But the classes were on a slightly different schedule, and now showers aren't available.  With my increasing temperature taking duties at school, it just seemed impossible.

But even had the scheduling worked out, I wouldn't be going back to spin class any time soon.  The class is in a very small room, and we're all sweating and breathing heavily.  In a time of a new virus that's transmitted when people are in a confined space and exposed to each other's respiratory droplets, it doesn't seem wise to go to spin class.

I'd been coming to this realization as I walked every morning for the last 3 months.  I'm a little surprised that classes are back, to be honest.  I hadn't expected classes to resume for many months yet.

I'm lucky, in many ways.  For most of my life, I've exercised on my own.  I don't need fancy equipment.  I don't need an instructor to tell me how to maximize my workout.  I understand all the various theories around exercise and how to maximize the benefits.  I have a lovely neighborhood where it's safe to take a walk.  Yes, I'm lucky.

It still feels strange to realize that an era has ended for me.  Realistically, I'm not likely to return to the Wellness Center.  When I first started going there, it was on my way to and from work.  Now it's out of the way, and during this shut down, I realized how much gas and travel time it takes to get there.

I'll miss the community that was there, but that community may no longer be there.  I was one of the younger ones who went to spin class, and I'm about to turn 55.  I'll miss the support and the camaraderie.

I do love a good spin class.  I love that I show up, and the instructor has made all the decisions about when we'll speed up and when we'll do jumps, and someone else has chosen the music.  I do love that I can get a vigorous workout that's low impact.  I do love a good spin class, but it's not safe right now.

I don't think of goodbyes this way.  I'm used to being the one who moves away.  I'm also used to a more gradual drifting away.  A crashing down of a wall between before and after because of a huge national/global event (as opposed to a huge personal event, like moving)--that type of ending still feels strange to me.