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 15th-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.
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| 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?
