Honky tonkin’ La Sal seniors

I’m not talking about high school seniors either, although we do have several of those in our village this year. Gauge Johnson, Tyler Beshoner, and Macy Badger are all – or were – seniors at Monticello High this year.  
The guys finished their school requirements by the end of the winter quarter and were pursuing other activities when the schools were recently put online.
Macy, however, was still involved in extra-curricular activities at MHS, including Sterling Scholar and as one of the leads in the spring play.  
Those, of course, are activities that were modified or just won’t happen at all.  
Also not happening for seniors everywhere are commencement exercises. It’s too bad as that is one of the big events in many young folks’ lives.  
In decades to come, they can explain to their grandchildren why things were different the year they finished high school.  
Perhaps they’ll even have the t-shirt proclaiming: “I survived COVID-19.”  They can explain how the chapter in the kids’ history books in the year 2020 through which they lived and survived actually happened. 
Whatever. I hope these seniors get to have some sort of celebration of their milestone in the near future.
I doubt that high school seniors even know what honky tonkin’ is. Many of us older folks know, but hopefully have outgrown it.
I got a call from the mover and shaker at the Sierra La Sal Senior Center, Maryanna Hutnik, the other day telling me all about the antics of her senior citizens.
First of all, Maryanna has a full time job at the Senior Center, which of late consists of fewer duties than in the past. So, we had time for a nice chat and some catching up on this and that.  
Among other things, we discussed our similar situations:  being “elderly”  (and since when is anyone over 60 elderly!  Why at this rate I’ll soon have kids that are elderly.) and the fact that we both are proud possessors of the “Big C.” Yep, if either of us gets the virus, we are goners for sure.
Like most other entities, the services at the center are curtailed from the norm. There are a lot of seniors who converge every Wednesday and Friday for meals and socializing there.
That is no longer the case. Folks are now required to drive up, honk their horn, and the gals hustle out with a boxed meal to take home.
These wily seniors have gotten creative. Truth be told, I’m pretty sure some of them have some honky tonkin’ in their pasts.  So they’ve started synchronizing their honkin’ out in the parking lot.  
I guess it is quite the show. Leave it to those crazy folks to come up with something to break the monotony of our current situation.
Maryanna was quick to assure me that none of the workers at the center are young and agile, so they come out walking and not on roller skates as the carhops of the 50s and 60s did.  No poodle skirts either.
She and I both agreed that even if we knew where our poodle skirts were from back in the day, they would not come close to fitting in our elderly years.
This Wednesday (yesterday for most folks, today for some, and in the future as I write) was the monthly arrival of the Utah Good Bank truck.
Things here will be/were done differently as well.  Again, no one is allowed in the Community Center except volunteers who will box or bag up the commodities and bring them out to people’s vehicles when they honk.  
Since many of the folks who come to the food bank are the same as the honky tonkers at the Senior Center, who knows what to expect!
On the social front:  everything is cancelled. Is that good enough for you?!
Actually, the local volunteer fire department folks want to let everyone know that the dynamite shoots scheduled for this year really are cancelled.
Though these folks probably have the capability of correct social distancing, no one is taking any chances in our current situation.  
The world will right itself again, hopefully. ’Til then, hang in there and keep your mask on. Honk if you need anything.

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