354. Why Find a New El Paso

A couple of summers ago, my husband and I had the opportunity to travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina. I took the photo above of him in Mostar. If you see this post within two days of when it goes live, please wish him a happy birthday.

If not, no worries. The post is about him, but not about his birthday. During the lockdown, when I baked bread and completed an entire handwriting book, he listened to a lot of music. In fact, I think he picked a year in which the Grateful Dead played lots of shows (maybe 1970, when they played 138), and he listened to every show on the same calendar day as they played it.

My husband might be even more of an introvert than I am, but even those of us who need alone time to recharge had to seek out ways to find human connections during the pandemic. My husband, who knows which of his friends would appreciate reviews of fifty-year-old Grateful Dead shows, penned his thoughts about each show and created an email list to share each review.

His friends not only appreciated his write-ups, but they also gave him the contact information for their friends who would want to be part of his readership.

When the year ended, instead of disbanding (like the pun?) the newsletter, my husband came up with a new plan. He decided to focus on one song: "El Paso," which the Dead played thirty-nine times in 1973. CIO listened to every version of the song on the same calendar date as the GD played it, and he shared his thoughts with his ever-expanding group of readers. By the end of the year, my husband had met IRL about half of the people on the email list.

When the "El Paso Project" ended, my husband stopped having a reason to send missives to his loyal readers. I think it's time to find a new project. Here are a few reasons why.

• If there's one lesson we must take from lockdown and positive psychology, it's that humans need connections to find happiness and fulfilment. By sending the emails, my husband created such connections across vast spaces.
• In much the same way that I find writing my Why Wednesdays fun, crafting the EPP emails brought him joy.
• I got to witness two of the EPP email recipients meet IRL one time, and the scene was pretty magical. Two grown men who had emailed each other and shared humor and kindness through the ether got to shake hands. It was a lovely moment.
• Sometimes, I think it's the silly, side endeavors more than our lives' callings that shape who we are.

So, if you see this post and have a good idea for a new El Paso Project for my husband, please share your ideas with him. Better yet, since he might hate that I'm writing about him and announcing his birthday, you could share any ideas in the comments.