Showsight Spring Edition, February/March 2021

BOOM OR BOOMER?

ENJOY THE SHOW A Zoom meeting is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family, but it’s a poor substitute for a legitmate Meet and Greet. Social greetings that are dependant on social cues aren’t quite the same when they’re experienced on a screen where the participants resemble the celebrities from Hollywood Squares or the cast of The Brady Bunch. Though handshakes, hand-waving, and hugs may be in short supply now, their reemergence in a post-pandemic world is all but assured. BREED THIS! Slowing down isn’t always easy to do, especially when the momentum of your life has had you functioning at breakneck speed for the last 35 years. However, with nowhere to go and all the time in the world to get there, tasks that once seemed like chores can become reliable stress relievers; cleaning, making household repairs, and gardening can stave off those feelings of doom and gloom. (It really is a good idea to stop and smell the roses.) When all else fails, there’s always the transformative power of aerobic exercise or opening a bottle of wine. SPECIALTIES ARE SPECIAL There are some skills in life that do, in fact, need to be relearned. Who knew that driving would be one of them? With so many fam- ily cars and RVs sheltering in place, countless drivers have very likely lost the ability to parallel park or back out of the driveway with confidence. Despite the millions of valid driver’s licenses issued, the return to the open road requires that every motorist proceed with extreme caution. (Or maybe it’s time to dust-off that old bicycle—again.) HIGH PERFORMANCE What is it they say about opinions? Oh right, everybody has one. For many stay-at-home fanciers, mixing social distancing with social media has only proven a point your mother likely impressed upon you when you were a teenager: If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. Oversharing—and opining—in the digital age can be ruinous to friendships as well as reputations. Before hitting the “send” button, it’s best to remember another piece of advice your mother probably gave you: Keep your opin- ions to yourself. FASHION FORWARD For dog people, “family” often includes a small circle of friends who share our breed devotion and our commitment to the sport. These are the people who remind us who we are. But in a world where everyone has been disconnected physically, if not techno- logically, the relationships we share with the people we care about most have become even more important to our sense of personal well-being. Whenever we all eventually return to showing dogs again, the experience will likely be akin to a very significant family reunion; a purebred pow wow. BACK TO BASICS The real reason that today’s Baby Boomers have a tendency to view the past through rose-colored glasses is pretty basic. Like it or not, we’re all runnng out of time. There is no going backwards and, just like watching a classic film, the desire to time-travel “back to the future” only offers a pleasant escape from the trials and tribulations of today. (And nobody needs to be reminded of how challenging the last year has been!) The past doesn’t really exist anymore—for anyone. It exists only in our memories and on old VCR tapes. We can’t go back; we can only press “forward.”

WHAT IS IT THEY SAY ABOUT

OPINIONS? OH RIGHT, EVERYBODY HAS ONE.

FOR MANY STAY-AT-HOME FANCIERS, MIXING SOCIAL DISTANCING WITH SOCIAL MEDIA HAS ONLY PROVEN A POINT YOUR MOTHER LIKELY IMPRESSED UPON YOU WHEN YOU WERE A TEENAGER: IF YOU CAN’T SAY SOMETHING NICE, DON’T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL.

The best that any of us can hope to do is to take what we’ve learned from the past year, and make a difference today—for a better tomorrow. There’s absolutely no reason why the future can’t be bright. Just ask Marty McFly.

72 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, SPRING EDITION

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