I already talk about myself more around the edges of my classes than I am comfortable with, so I haven’t shared this quirky thing with anyone yet and and therefore tag, you are it. Mrs. Sherlock is recovering at home from her lumpectomy that she had with no issues this last Thursday.
They always tell you that to make it easier to get your cat in their carrier you should leave it out for some while before you need to deploy it. We had a weather event a few months back where I thought evacuation might be a possibility, so I put Carlo’s carrier out in the middle of the living area where I still, yes, have unpacked boxes. I admit it.
At some point he was exploring as he does everything that is in this place, everything is basically his territory, and he checked out the inside of the carrier because the vet had put treats in it with him the last time he was in there. I got a kick out of him checking it out for some reason on Monday nights during my evening class.
Two weeks ago, during that class he got into the carrier and fell asleep. I was chuffed at that.
This last Monday he did it again! After class I took this picture. He woke up when I got my phone out. Hence the look. He knows my routine intimately and what I say as I am winding down the class.
It all makes me feel slightly less guilty about having a little group of unpacked boxes in my living area. They are full of stuff I need to sort, throw out or put away. I am not a hoarder. One accumulates things. Especially as people really like to give me things! And have been doing this my whole adult life. It helps them feel good; I do get that. And I have chosen to live a life with fewer things than most people.
This has got me thinking about patrons. Walt knows all about patrons. I think in the theater arts they are more apparent because theater productions are very expensive. He also had patrons support him in this prison work. He has a patron that pays his modest but livable salary at 73 because he and his partner have no retirement savings. He in turn is very generous. Maybe a little too generous, and as a board we are often having to gently rein in that generosity.
We had a board meeting this week. Mr. Pedantic is leaving the board, and another board member is as I believe I mentioned before, having treatment for bone cancer. I sat next to him at the meeting, he is a good good person, also a former actor, farmer, environmentalist, helper to retain native lands, mostly in B.C., lived with the tribes, anyway he has bruises all over his arms. From the treatment.
Walt gave me a ride to the board meeting from where we have the dialogue group and I was telling him about how amazing it was at the end of the new in person class when I went to start putting the chairs away and returning the room to the way I found it, my coordinator said…”leave it, the maintenance people will put it away.”
I show up, the room is free, the people are basically provided, all I have to do is teach, get paid and leave. Whoa baby.
Yoga teachers are often treated in the upper echelons of society liked “the help”. It takes years and good fortune and recognized skill to get to a place where you are supported in this way, and as a fellow yoga teacher says, you have to be in that top tier of well-known teachers to get support and to make a decent living.
I have a pension that I earned, and social security. By most people’s standards I have a very modest lifestyle, but I am not dependent on my yoga income. Walt said he was so happy that I had gotten this gig, as he worried about me making it on the $38 dollars a month I charge my newer students. He started suggesting I could do this at other expensive condo groups and retirement homes, and I am like, uh, I only have so much energy.
His experience, being in the arts his whole adult life with a working partner, and mine as a mostly single woman on her own are so different! Boggles the mind.
Still, I am not complaining. If I were to complain it would be to the gods that have inflicted cancer on these two wonderful people that I love and look forward to spending a substantial amount more time with.
So there.
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