Fortunate

Working at home during this pandemic has been working out well. Much better than I expected. And make no mistake, my wife and I are fortunate. We both work together anyway and we have an eerie capacity to get along well together both during and outside of work hours. We naturally give each other space, though at the same time we both scratch our heads and wonder why we love being together so much. Truthfully it probably sounds a little bit weird. :-)

I would imagine there are lots of people who are just itching to get back to work; wanting to get out of their homes and back to the relief and escape that work can provide. I can understand that. It just doesn’t fit my own situation.

Right now I feel like I’m getting at least as much work done as I was in the ‘before times’, but I don’t have the 2 hours of commuting every day, and fewer interruptions throughout the workday. I’m still gettings tons of email and plenty of phone calls, but fewer walk-into-my-office-asking-for-help sorts of questions. People are having to figure things out for themselves more often. And even having to put your question in an email forces you to do some amount of thinking, focusing and problem solving on your own. This is a good thing.

In my little world it’s becoming harder to argue how this remote work situation is worse. I guess if you’re the type of person who relies on face-to-face social interaction - which is a completely valid way to be, then it’s getting difficult. My employer is quite fortunate too. We’ve seen very little drop off in work, and in fact have several new projects on the go. Maybe that will play out differently in the longer term, but for now it’s been all hands on deck - same as it has been for quite a long time.

So it’s all going well. Lovely Daughter has been accepted into the Universities she applied to (yay!). But what is actually going to happen in the fall is another matter. No one seems to have a definitive plan. And coming up with a viable one when everything feels unpredictable is difficult. I imagine it will reveal itself over the next few months. You really gotta roll with the punches these days. If you’re the type who has to have everything figured out 6 months ahead of time, then you are definitely not enjoying this particular timeline.

And then there is the spectre of actually getting sick. My Dad is doing fine, as is everyone else I know. So it’s easy to look around and think that hey, it’s over. Let’s get going back. But I’m not so sure. You read these things about second waves and watch your province start opening things up and realize we could very easily be back to March/April levels of new cases. If working from home, not commuting 2 hours a day and wearing a mask is what I have to do to help prevent a resurgence, then count me in.

Oh and one more thing…

My wife and I discovered we had both put on a few pounds. We both knew we were… but let’s just use the term ‘discovered’ in polite company okay?. We’d become notably less active and I had somehow learned to make chicken parmigiana. :-)

So we’ve been eating healthier lately - making better food choices, and more importantly eating less of it. We’re also doing more walking. We take Bertrude around for his walk and then head back out for more stringent striding and chatting. It’s become what my wife says is her favourite part of the day - even if it’s happening near or past midnight. That makes me happy.

For the record, I still love pizza. No change there. :P

Stay safe, healthy and happy.