8 Months 8 Resolutions – Play Your Pan with a Smile

8 Months 8 Resolutions – Play Your Pan with a Smile At the beginning of this year, I committed to making 12 resolutions – one per month. Then Coronavirus struck. I actually managed to keep up my monthly goals but suddenly, it seemed more important to replace a regular list of ‘things to do’ with ‘things that were getting me through’ a global pandemic. One of my pandemic survival ‘go to’ tools has been carving out a new routine. Part of my new daily routine includes an evening tradition of banging pots with my neighbours. There’s a regular gang of us who step out every night for two minutes at 7:30 pm to bang pots, pans, drums and whatever other loud utensils we can get our hands on. You would think that, after all these weeks we would be able to take our show on the road. No, we are NOT perfect (in fact, some nights we are probably ear- shatteringly awful) but, like many other neighbourhoods across the globe, it is our small token of appreciation for all the front-line workers who are doing their best to keep us safe from Covid 19. I have to admit that there have been times, as I was banging my pot, I was thinking, “What does it really matter? We’re not close enough to a hospital for staff or patients to actually hear us.” However, I suddenly just found out last night that a nurse, a couple of doctors and a former medical scientist live on my street. By now you’re thinking, “Wow, Jude -way to really get to know your neighbours! Way to socialize!” Or maybe you’re thinking, “Who the hell let you onto that street??” Look, I probably still don’t know most of my neighbours’ names (but if they have a cat or a dog, I probably know THIER names). The point is, we are all in this together. We all contribute something. Big or small. Thank you to the frontline workers and all of the workers on all of our streets for keeping us safe. As comedian Chris Rock says, “When you’re in a band, you have roles that you play in the band. Sometimes, you sing lead. And sometimes, you’re on tambourine. And if you’re on tambourine, play it right. Play it with a fuckin’ smile, because no one wants to see a mad tambourine player.” I’m going to start playing my Teflon fry pan with a great big smile. http://www.JudyCroon.com