By Eric W. Schoen
Monday, March 16, 2020. 8:30 a.m. Water Aerobics class at the New York Sports Club in Dobbs Ferry with Pamela. An hour long. With 2 artificial knees and a bad back, I found it to be the most invigorating but relaxing course that I take at the gym.
If you have never participated in a water aerobics class before, it is accompanied by high energy music. Everything from Reggae to Madonna. While doing some of the exercises the music is slow and soothing. Your whole body is involved, and as it is in the water it is low impact and pretty much anyone can do it. It works every part of your body. I always left feeling great.
I was amazed at how many people younger than I am were in the class. We had a great teacher who not only led us in some serious exercise in the water but also worked with us individually to address problem areas. She showed me some specific exercises for my back and knees.
I wonder where Pamela is now. She taught water aerobics at other locations in the county. All the students in the class loved her. She was a religious woman from up county who had lost her partner to I believe cancer a year earlier. Her partner had participated in the classes.She remembered my name as it was the same as her brother.
Toward the end of the class, someone came in and said the gym was closing at 8 p.m. that night. Surprising as it usually closed at 10:00 p.m. And that was my official introduction to Covid-19!
The gym remained closed for several months. When it reopened no water aerobic classes, no classes at all. Pool still closed. A very small number of people working out, all socially distanced. People constantly cleaning. I went for a while but my doctors encouraged me to take advantage of the nice weather and do outdoor exercise. The gym, even though they had special air filtration filters and constant cleaning was too risky. Even though I wasn’t pumping heavy weights and sweating profusely, I had heard all the reports before my March 16 class about Covid-19 and didn’t make much of it. I should have as the week before we had a musical program sponsored by Friends of the Yonkers Public Library of which I am President and fewer than 10 people showed up.
They were all seniors. They sat together at the back of the auditorium, huddled together. Later I would realize that wasn’t so smart. I asked them why there were so few attendees. They told me people were afraid of coming out due to a virus that was spreading. We haven’t had a musical program at the library since.
Tuesday, March 17, 2020. St. Patrick’s Day. I usually spend the late afternoon at Rory Dolan’s on McLean Avenue in the company of good friends Bob Stauf and Cathy Marshall and a wonderful group of people they would bring together for the occasion. You never knew if a Priest would be in your company or who Bob and Cathy would gather.
If you want to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day Rory’s is the place. I would post pictures on Facebook of how crowded the place was and of those in our party. People from around Westchester and often from around the country would be jealous of where I was.
I love corned beef and cabbage. Irish Soda bread. I’m a light beer person, so I never ordered Guinness, a Murphy’s Stout or a Harp Lager. I might finish off the meal with a Bailey’s, so delicious and full of calories. I never liked the boiled potato traditionally served with the corned beef and cabbage So I would ask for double cabbage.
We knew the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City had been cancelled, and how many people from around the world were upset about that. Rory’s was the place so many people would end up at after the St. Patrick’s Parade, close to home so that they could indulge a little and not face the crowds in New York City.
No throngs at Rory Dolan’s for St. Patrick’s Day. No corned beef and cabbage with a double side of cabbage. I don’t even remember if the restaurant was open for takeout or simply closed. The St. Patrick’s Day tradition we all looked forward to didn’t take place last year.
At this point I have to go back several days to March 12, 2020. I was scheduled to do my radio show on WVOX, studio in New Rochelle. New Rochelle was Ground Zero with Covid-19. The first large outbreak in the United States started in New Rochelle. Before it happened New Rochelle was famous as being the home of Rob and Laura Petrie, Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore in the Dick Van Dyke Show.
I was going to do my show in person. I got up early, checked to make sure Starbucks was open and as I normally do did my show prep at Starbucks. The place was eerily quiet. Same 4 shots of espresso over ice in a Venti Cup, ice first. But there was no one around. No Iona College students getting their java fix before classes.
I had posted on Facebook that I would be doing the show from Ground Zero, New Rochelle. Posted I was enjoying my morning Starbucks from New Rochellle. Several of my sisters friends saw the post on Facebook and called her and asked, ‘What is your brother doing in New Rochelle?’ By the time my sister got to me my show was over. I don’t even remember wearing a mask into or out of the studio.
Fast forward almost a year. Last week, after this column had gone to press, Wednesday March 3 I got my first Covid vaccination at the Yonkers Armory. Like all during the year that had passed, I was nervous and panicky. The organizations running the operation, The Veterans Administration, Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA), the Governor’s Office, Empress Ambulance standing by and Yonkers Police directing traffic and assisting in anyway they could were doing a phenomenal job and everything ran smoothly.
As I entered the Armory I started to cry. I stopped long enough for them to go through my papers and assign me to a nurse who would give me shot one of two, the second several weeks later. I was so confused I couldn’t find #9 cubicle I was assigned to.
I sat down, tears pouring from my eyes. The nurses asked me if I was ok. I said yes. They told me don’t worry the vaccination experience had been very emotional for many of those they had seen. Within seconds I had my first shot. All of a sudden I felt a sense of accomplishment.I was happy. I felt like a new man. The tears dried up.
I had to wait 15 minutes as the medical staff observed me to make sure I had no reaction from the shot. All I could think of was all we and I mean each and every one of you had gone through over the last year. I asked one of the nurses who was in charge of this fantastic operation. She brought her over to me. She was from the VA. I thanked her.
Get vaccinated. Wear your mask. Wash your hands. Remember the 6 foot rule. I can’t wait for the corned beef and cabbage. And the water aerobics let’s hope is not too far away!
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericyonkers. Listen to Eric Schoen and Dan Murphy on the Westchester Rising Radio Show Thursday’s from 10-11 a.m. On WVOX 1460 AM, go to WVOX.com or download the WVOX app from the App Store free of charge.
