Completely Renovated Home Base of OMP 2 Bedrooms, 1.5 Bathrooms 1 Car Attached Garage Freshly Painted All New Flooring Gas Fireplace Private Backyard
6100 Peninsula Drive MLS 1878697 | $399,900
Ann Porter
Associate Broker
231.944.4959 Ann@AnnPorterTC.com 522 E Front Street, Traverse City, MI 49686
MOVING DIRT AND STONE opinion BY Gary Howe This year is taking a toll on me. I’m more sluggish. It’s harder to get out of bed each morning. I have muscle pain that I didn’t have in 2019. My fingers have lost some of their sense of touch. I haven’t yet been tested, but I’m sure my ailments aren’t COVID-19. Still, I feel confident the pandemic is at least partly to blame. I’m not complaining, though. These bodily ailments come with the territory of coping with what is increasingly being vilified just by the simple act of uttering its name: the year 2020. I suspect that for decades to come, just saying Twenty-Twenty will be enough to conjure up the chaos, uncertainty, strife, stress, and sadness of this damnable year.
was building inside of me, I’d exorcise it by relocating a stack of forgotten creosote-soaked wood. I’ve carried this practice, a therapeutic hobby of sorts, into adulthood. When times are tough, I move heavy things. I live in Traverse City on a tenth of an acre. This summer, I’ve moved a couple of tons of dirt and a few tons of stone and brick. On my tiny plot of land, I’ve planted five new trees. It turns out that’s one tree for each milestone death from COVID-19. A thousand. Ten thousand. Fifty thousand. One hundred thousand. Two hundred thousand. I’m anticipating planting one or two more before the end of the year.
All this is to say, I wish everyone the time and space and energy to dive into the activity that provides balance and a mental health break. It’s not always possible.
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We mark certain tragic days, like 9/11, by their numerical date. Why not an entire year? There are three months left. Instead of asking what else can go wrong, we ask—what else will go wrong? 2020. With extended time at home and pent up anxiety ticking away, my body also aches in part because I’ve turned to an old standby I’ve used throughout my life to transport me through the uncertain times. I’ve been digging. I’ve been moving dirt and stones to and fro, sometimes without any real plan in mind. All to find a balance. There’s always a hole that needs to be dug. Undug holes keep me busy. Digging defrags my brain, one that is increasingly clogged up with news of trials and travails.
I’m doing heavy lifting elsewhere as well. I’m wearing a mask when I leave home. I’m staying informed and learning more than I ever wanted to know about pandemics and the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. I’m following politics and am ready to vote when my ballot arrives. And, I’m examining the privilege afforded me just because I am a middle-class white male. There is a lot of lifting required this year. Say his name: George Floyd.
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Moving mud and stone is therapeutic for me. It puts me in a flow where all that, out there, can be processed in the background. Many readers are doing other things to find their flow, like running, walking, and biking. Or gardening or learning to meditate or doing more yoga. The stress of 2020 is real.
expres s N O R T H E R N
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NORT
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8 • sept 28, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly
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Have a median income above $86,500 an incredible 92 percent of express readers have purchased food, wine, or products based on an ad they saw on our pages For advertising information contact: info@northernexpress.com
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