Glee

I started typing this while watching the comedy-drama series called Glee. This was one of the first series we started binge watching during Cindy’s “early retirement” years, brought on by her dementia. The events of the past week lead us to a second go around for this series, time will tell how far we get.

Cindy’s “exercise” has been to go down and up the stairs twice in a day. Going down was tougher because of her balance, but I could guide her easy enough. This past week going up the stairs has become more difficult, indeed, impossible. I’ve had to sling her over my shoulders and carry her up each time.

This means that for all practical purposes we have reached the final stage of immobility for Cindy, unless there is one more stage looming for her with being strictly bedridden. I may bring her downstairs on occasion; with the help of a wheelchair I may even take her out on the town, as I did this past Saturday. Yet for the most part she will be confined to our second floor, rotating between bedroom, bathroom and our bedroom converted into an entertainment room.

As this additionally comes on the heels of shrinking companionship coverage, this also means that my life now is confined in similar measure. Fortunately, I already solved the challenge of getting sufficient exercise under these conditions. While Cindy watches Netflix I do 200 flights of stairs, 100 continuous push-ups and 100 continuous sit-ups, which proves to be a very effective cardiovascular routine. Tedious, but effective. As for Cindy’s “exercise routine” I stand her up periodically, play the “Big Band” station on Pandora and we “dance” for two or three songs.

By dancing I mean that Cindy precariously balances on two planted feet while I sway the two of us back and forth, a smooth swaying for a slow song, a bouncy swaying for a fast one. Occasionally I ask Cindy if she is enjoying our dance and she always replies “yep,” her enthusiastic version of “yes.” This reminds me of the recent time I caught Cindy staring out the window at a snowstorm and I asked her if she wanted to go skiing. This was not a cruel tease on my part. I was not the least bit surprised when she enthusiastically replied “Oh, yes,” even though she could hardly walk by then, an example of a deteriorating brain preserving one’s sense of self.

You might have noticed that my blog posts have become less frequent. I actually hope this new turn of events changes that. The reason I started us on Glee is precisely because we have watched the series once before. Having already watched this series, perhaps I can get some errands accomplished at the same time, at least those requiring a computer.

This may prove to be easier in concept than in practice. Glee uses the plot line of a high school glee club to explore issues facing teenagers and entertain us with song and dance. Sometimes Glee uses caricatures that are annoying and the performances are implausible. Yet entertaining, even stunning, performances are the result of this implausibility. Though portrayed through caricatures the issues are still very real and occasionally gripping.  I find myself drawn into the show more than I am motivated to make this blog post.

Perhaps that is because I am being struck by the connections of Glee to my own life. The main character, the teacher who gets the glee club off the ground, reminds me of my own teaching days and the relationships with students solidified through the wilderness adventure club I started. There is also the unfortunate knowledge I now have of what happens to another main character, the glee club member known as Finn.

Finn epitomizes the glee in Glee. Formerly trapped in the high school herd mentality that led him to be a star football player, he finds that participation in the lowly regarded glee club is what unleashes his passion for life. An unleashed passion for life resembles our own life story, Cindy and me, with wilderness adventure replacing performing as our liberator. Alas, the resemblance does not stop there.

The actor who portrays Finn died from a drug overdose in real life, something we did not know as we watched the first three seasons the first time around. Three more seasons were added to Glee, ones we have yet to watch. As we start to watch the entire series from our second floor retreat, I know in advance that Finn, or rather Cory Monteith, will not make it through the series. Sadness overtakes me when I consider the likelihood that neither will Cindy.