Day 366 — Wednesday, March 17, 2021 or well, that was a year

I have now been working from home for exactly a year. And I guess a day… It went by so fast and also so very, very slow.

And what have I actually done with all that time stuck in my home? You’d think all my closets would finally be organized or I’d have cleaned out all that crap in the spare room that we obviously don’t need because I couldn’t tell you the last time we used it. I could have learned a foreign language, finally written my first novel or at least started one.

What I do have is an even bigger “To Be Read” pile of books (I really, really need to stop ordering books! But I’m supporting independent bookstores!) and multiple painted canvases from my virtual painting classes. Sure none of them are going to win an award or hang in a museum, but they chart my progress over the past year and that makes me happy.

And I am slowly updating my outdated technology. I did finally replace my crappy old desktop computer with a new laptop, but that was only recently so maybe that doesn’t actually count. I replaced my Fitbit because the alarm function wasn’t working anymore and some days that’s all I use on the the damn thing. Now I need to get a new cell phone, but every time I go to the Verizon store I feel like they need a blood sample and a signed affidavit that they can have my next of kin before you can actually purchase a new iPhone. The pressure is real, maybe I will wait on that until next year.

And I can’t believe we are still in the middle of this.  I’m so grateful that I can work from home — some days I can’t even imagine getting back on public transportation, but then there are other days that I want to run screaming out the front door and hug the first stranger I see on the street.  And my attention span is shot – every day I feel like a goldfish in a bowl, like that blue fish from that Disney movie, constantly distracted by the next shiny object.

But there are definitely some things I would like to keep from the past year — wearing comfy yoga pants and slipper-like shoes to work every day (bra, what bra?), not having to sit on the crowded commuter rail train (although I miss that dedicated time to read a book), curbside pickup at the library (why didn’t we think of this earlier??). And I’ve enjoyed all the virtual events — there’s something for everyone out there and you don’t have to travel to get there!

But I guess all of this is just what happens when you are living through a global pandemic. It’s going to be so strange when we all get back out there in the germ-filled crazy world after a year of hiding in our homes. Just don’t forget your hand sanitizer, you’re going to need it!