Last summer we did the very best we could to savor the season that everyone in New England looks forward to. We dined al fresco in our yard either grilling or supporting local restaurants with take out. We explored new running routes in our neighborhood and played in our sprinkler. There were no trips to the beach and no Cape Cod getaways where we would lounge by outdoor pools after a morning run or having a race-vacation where we would meet up with all of our running friends. There was no dining at a restaurant because of very limited seating capacity and the metrics indicated that the risk of infection from COVID was quite high.
This weekend marked the beginning of summer and coincidentally Tom's vacation.
Because of Juneteenth, Tom had Friday off. We spent the morning relaxing together as Ruth Anne prepared for an interview for her "come back job" post brain injury secondary to an autoimmune response to an untreated infection. She was hired on the spot! We had planned to do take out to kick off summer and Tom's vacation but, since we are all fully vaccinated and we had so much to celebrate, we looked for dining out options with outdoor dining.
I wanted to be near water but we decided downtown Boston on the first weekend of summer post-COVID in Boston would be too crowded for us. To ensure outside dining at Legal Seafood in Chestnut Hill, we decided an early dinner would be best. They do not take reservations for outdoor seating.
As good fortune would have it, we had a table overlooking the Pond where I was able to satisfy my desire to dine overlooking water.
It was an emotional moment for all of us. We chatted for a few minutes and the trauma of the past 15 months started to melt away. It was a bit surreal to be eating dinner out at a restaurant and for Ruth Anne getting ready to go to work again. Talk about resilience!
Since Legal Seafood was sold to new owners during the pandemic, the dishes had a different flair to them. What a treat to savor delicious food with impeccable service including the new manager personally serving our dishes to ensure they arrived right out of the kitchen. We usually do not have dessert but since there was so much to celebrate we opted for Bon Bons. When she brought the check she told us that the Bon Bons were complimentary.
I've talked about the feeling of a time warp as we emerge from the pandemic. Having Hannah as our waitress at Legal had all the feels of being in that time warp where nothing yet everything changed.
On Saturday and Monday we went to do our 5K at the Sugar Bowl in South Boston. One of the things I missed most last summer was being able to run by the ocean. (Are you sensing that I'm a water kind of gal?)
On Monday we packed an apres run picnic and spent time at the beach for the first time since the summer of 2019. What a treat to come home with sun kissed skin and 'tan' lines (which may be read as sunburned lines despite using sunscreen SPF 30), sand between our toes and salt lines on our skin from when we went into the ocean.
Because it was a week day there was lots of room on the beach and except for a few people wearing masks, there were no reminders that COVID had swept through the city leaving deaths and devastating loss in its wake.
A year ago it was hard to imagine we'd be able to ever enjoy these summer time scenes again. But here we are!
While I always practiced an attitude of gratitude ever since the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome, my appreciation for simple pleasures like a run around Pleasure Bay and time on the beach has deepened beyond measure since COVID.
A Trip to the Beach
Feel the freedom in your body
feel the freedom in your life
slowly now releasing
the past 15 months of strife.
Bring compassion, love and kindness
to the stress we’ve all lived through
take time allow for healing
feeling anxious despite skies of blue.
Emerging from the trauma
a different world we all now face
like a newborn baby from the womb
wrap yourself in tenderness and grace.
The road that we have traveled
one we never had before
miraculously we found our way
strengthened to our core.
May we be blessed with ease and peace
one toe in water as we gingerly move ahead
may well being and good health now reign
letting go of fear and dread.
May lessons from the darkest times
transform to love and light
resilience, courage, hope renewed
a change in tide is now in sight.
From my heart to yours
In health and wellness
Mary
Be sure to listen to my conversation with Greg Chastain and Ed Siegel on their Voices of Hope podcast, The Cardinal Cafe. From Greg Chastain: The latest episode of The Cardinal Cafe is up! On this episode we meet Mary McManus. Mary is a motivational speaker, author, poet, 2009 Boston Marathon Finisher, polio and trauma survivor. She has a remarkable story of resilence, healing, Hope and possibilities. Once you hear her tell her story you will want to rush out to purchase her newest book of poems “Hope is a Garden” which she wrote during the recent pandemic. So please join us for this incredible story.
For
more information about my journey from childhood polio and trauma to
the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond, visit my website.
Be sure to check out my website's News and Events
page for upcoming and past interviews where I share my remarkable and
inspirational journey as a survivor of paralytic polio and trauma.
My books to inspire and uplift you are available on Amazon.
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