Jenn McKinlay: Never during any of the years since the movie Groundhog Day was released (1993) have I felt like I was actually living the Groundhog Day time loop until this year. Mercy! Also, Happy Groundhog Day!!!
While I haven't woken up to the same song every day nor have I learned a new skill, unless doom scrolling counts, it still feels as if one day has bled into the next with nothing to break up the rinse and repeat of the day in day out quarantine lifestyle.
So, it got me to thinking, if we were actually stuck in a time loop like the movie, what would our extras be? For example Bill Murray's character, weatherman Phil Connors, wakes up to Sonny and Cher's I've Got You Babe every morning on his radio alarm clock. What song would you wake up to every day if you had your pick?
Jenn: Here Comes the Sun by George Harrison, the Beatles
Hallie: Feel Better When I’m Dancin’, Meghan Trainor
Lucy: I would be listening to Luciano Pavarotti and Eric Clapton singing Holy Mother
Rhys: the first thing that came to mind was Morning from Grier’s Peer Gynt suite. I don’t think I handle voices well in the early hours!
Hank: Maybe I Got A Feeling by The Black Eyed Peas? Or The song from West Side Story —Something’s Coming. (Could be, who knows…)
Debs: I think Good Day, Sunshine by the Beatles
Julia: Daydream Believer by the Monkees - it's the perfect morning song, and I'm guessing something the local radio station, which must have been an oldies one, right? would play.
Once Phil realizes he's stuck, he decides to use the time to learn new skills - playing piano, speaking French, and ice sculpting.
Jenn: I would learn to paint landscapes on huge canvases.
Hallie: Cake icing (So mesmerizing, and I’m addicted to The Great British Baking Show)
Lucy: I have been dreaming about a walking and music tour in northern Scotland, and wouldn’t it be fun to know how to play an instrument to join in with the musicians? The fiddle would be amazing, but I’m afraid it’s out of reach.
Rhys: I thought I might do this with my pandemic time Sourdough bread? Perfecting the harp? Uh no.
Maybe learning Chinese
Hank: Playing the piano. Oh I would love to be able to play the piano. I watch people playing, and I think— I can’t even imagine how you could do that. But wouldn’t that be so much fun?
Debs: I really really want to learn to paint with watercolors, and to paint and draw in my journals. Things I thought I might make a tiny bit of progress on in the lockdown, but, no.
Julia: I'd learn to sew beautiful clothes with fine dressmaker details and haute couture style.
Phil is stuck on repeat in Punxsutawney, PA, on Groundhog Day, probably not the place or holiday he would have chosen. If you could pick any holiday to repeat over and over again, which one would it be?
Jenn: Halloween. Spooky costumes and copious amounts of candy win hands down every time.
Hallie: Thanksgiving, because we’re with the kids and grands, though I’d probably get well and truly sick of turkey.
Lucy: I do love Christmas, but if I had to do Christmas cards and shopping and traveling over and over, I bet I would get pretty darn crabby
Rhys: I agree, Lucy. Christmas but without the hassle. Just family together laughing and playing silly games.
Hank: Passover, weirdly. It’s so family centric, and so justice centric, and there’s fabulous food and lots of wine, and profoundly important themes.
Debs: I love Thanksgiving and Christmas but am horrified by the idea of doing either of them over and over! Maybe Guy Fawkes Day. I love November in England, the bonfires, the fireworks. And who wouldn’t want to celebrate a failed insurrection?
Julia: Easter! Like Passover, it's centered on family and food, and you don't need to decorate the house. Plus it's at the end of winter/beginning of spring, and who wouldn't want to experience that hopeful time of the year again and again?
Jenn: Of course, I have done none of these things, but that's beside the point. Books got written and that feels like achievement enough!
Okay, Readers, how about you? What's your time loop song, skill, and holiday on repeat?
