An (Un)Eventful Summer

Am I the only one sleeping with one eye open all this time just waiting for something worse to happen? It’s a daily struggle, always wondering what fresh hell we have waiting for us. It feels, at times, like we’re teetering on the edge of madness and all I can do is laugh, and laugh, and laugh.

A global pandemic is infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands. There’s the whole mask debate, the college students placing bets on who will get it first, and the fact that while no one is going anywhere, it seems like everyone is on vacation. There are the days you wake up with a sore throat and think “this is it, this is how it ends.”

Because of the virus, the future of the workplace is also pivoting fast. Seems like just a minute ago, we were celebrating open spaces with collaboration areas, game rooms, and free food. Now, we’re seeing the upside of productivity working from home, there’s less distraction (unless you're one of the many balancing your workday with children who are e-learning and the internet is lagging, and they want to take another break, and they just can’t quite focus because, well, they’re at home and mom, the X-box is like right there!).

It’s quite disheartening for someone like me, who enjoys interaction with others, who thrives in large groups of people, but can only sit in my office now, alone and wondering how the hell to keep connecting people who can’t see one another as if we’re all pen pals now.

Looking for the good in all this can be quite difficult. But we all must try. And I’ve done my best to do so.

I’ve read around a dozen books in the last few months - that’s a record! One more and I hit my goal of reading 20 in a year. If this keeps up, I might have to raise my goal in 2021.

In July, we took a trip to Florida because nothing says “what virus?” like loading the entire family on a half-full plane and flying them to the hub of infection. However, we stayed sequestered in the rental house the whole time and floated on a pool noodle just about every day. It was blissfully boring and no one got sick (except I caught a cold a few days after we came back home and thought, again, “this is how it ends”).

Of course, I’ve been writing. I participated in Camp NaNoWriMo in July and got 50,000 words out of a new novel that’s been noodling around my noggin. I’m in the final edits of another novel that will go to the editor at the end of this month. And I’ve buzzed through a few sessions of Masterclass - finding words of wisdom and inspiration from the likes of Aaron Sorkin, Dan Brown, Judy Blume, Margaret Atwood, Shonda Rhimes, and James Patterson.

I’ve watched several series, 80’s movies, finished about a half-dozen puzzles, shaved my head, dyed it red, and planted two tomato plants that produced exactly ONE tomato. Yet I’m still feeling pretty restless, even with all we’ve done to try to entertain ourselves. Do I need to resort to making sourdough bread? Is that the answer?

Soon, we’ll be ending this crazy year, and I’m sure we’re all ready to do just that. We’ll spring into 2021 full of hope because it might be all we can do. And if Baby New Year has any schemes planned for 2021, we’ll be sure to make him go stand in the corner until he behaves.

In the meantime, I want to share something my dad used to have printed on the back of his business cards for some inspiration. While I have never been able to find the exact quote, it was something along the lines of the image below. Hopefully, it helps keep some of the madness at bay.