“Nachholen” - On Catching up (Diary of Recovery 2)

German has a verb, “nachholen”, with the meaning that a certain activity, meeting, action can, on the occasion of not having taken place at the original time, be rescheduled, re-initiated, without supposedly any alteration in circumstances. A lovely word, I think. It gives you the impression that that is possible, something that has not happened on its scheduled point of time can be realized a bit later, no losses need to be counted. I am not sure that ‘catch up’ completely covers the span of meaning that the German verb has, but when I saw a note in the newspaper a few days ago about a blog written by a journalist during social distancing times, with the title “Das holen wir nach!” (We’ll catch up on that later) I began to ponder on things that had not taken place recently.

Quilt shows, exhibitions, concerts. Grand openings, several weeks of schooling, religious ceremonies. I haven’t been able to go to see the “Abstract & Geometric” exhibition in the Heidelberg Textile Museum yet. (Although I saw that it has been extended, so there may be a chance to still go and see it. That is something, for which ‘nachholen’ may be an appropriate verb.)

Wedding celebrations.

Funerals – they were held out of necessity, but here in Germany only a very limited number of people were allowed to attend. We, as a family, did not experience a personal loss of that kind during these recent times, so were not affected on that level. But my husband, a minister, had to deal with that situation as the authority several times, families were not cooperative, refused to understand the measures.

Both my son and I had our birthdays. He turned 15, and could not have a party with friends. I am not usually somebody who makes a big deal about her birthday, but for this year I had actually planned a day canoe trip with friends, who would have come from Switzerland, Bremen, Weil, Munich in addition to my husband and son and two friends who live locally. Not possible. Of course, a birthday party can be rescheduled. But it wouldn’t be the same thing, ‘nachholen’ is not really possible. Especially so when you are younger. My son would have gone to Paris with a school exchange in April, and to Budapest later this month for the return-visit to an exchange in which his Hungarian partner had visited us in December. Both were not possible, the visit to France will not be rescheduled, and the visit to Budapest is unlikely to be rescheduled. He was hoping to participate in basketball tryouts to get onto another team for next season. We have yet to find out how that will be dealt with. He did not think about any way of possible celebrating his birthday outside the family, because he did not want to prefer one of his friends over the others. These are experiences that at that stage in life have a special meaning, and rescheduling them due to the kinds of circumstances we have been going through changes a young person’s life much more radically than a postponed canoe trip at my age. You cannot catch up on your 15^th-birthday-party. It simply won’t work.

So for my birthday he and I took a bike trip together, up the valley, 25 km one way, bought and had an ice cream cone, and then came back. 

Which was nice enough, even though not the canoe trip intended, and I can definitely cherish the fact that he consented to spend that day with me in that manner. 

A piece of found art while we were having our ice cream...

But for a 15 year old it must feel strange, to be so stopped in your life which is only just beginning. I wonder how that generation is going to come through these times. What will they tell their kids about these times? How will they remember being locked up in their houses, having to be aware of other persons as potential danger of infection? What

I am listening to the audio version of the book “Pale Rider” by Laura Snippey. It tells the story of the Spanish Flu in 1918/19, and ‘how it changed the world’. There is no way to catch up on activities that were stopped like we are experiencing now – but life goes on, somehow. 

What are we going to take with us from these times, in a positive way?