Home office, big change.
My colleague, going hybrid.
Time for a booster?
Sigh.
But first, how was your weekend? I hope it was great. Here in New England we had amazing weather…which meant watching lots of sports out back with friends and family. Red Sox gave us a loss then a win (Friday and Saturday), Bruins opened the season with a win (Saturday), and Pats lost a heartbreaker in OT yesterday.
But anyway…
Home office, big change.
My colleague has gone hybrid.
Time for a booster?
Sigh.
The Ladies of the 220 have had a good run these last 19 months in our home office suite, also known as “upstairs.” And today that all is coming to an end.
The alarm went off, early, and several snoozes later movement was afoot. After a few false starts for both of us, Kerri’s return to office (exact schedule TBD) actually is happening today.
I don’t know if it’s surprising or not, but I do know I hadn’t thought much (at all) about how it would be when one or both of us had to go back. And let me tell you, while I wouldn’t dramatize and call myself bereft or disconsolate, I definitely am sad.
We’ve got a good thing going here. We’re fortunate to have space for each of us to have nice and private space to work in. During the day, there’s a certain energy around us. She’s on calls, or I am…I hear voices, movement. I have a colleague here I can talk to and bounce ideas off of, though she works for a different company. And today that all is changing as she goes back, on that TBD schedule. So this new routine is making me think about two things:
How many great things have come of the last 19 months.
My Covid risk.
Great things. No early alarm clock. No crack-of-dawn class at the gym. No rushing to shower and eat breakfast and pack lunch and get to the office on time only to sit at my desk working independently all day. Instead, I’ve had the morning news, coffee, and conversation with Kerri, which has been like a dream…before the pandemic the most togetherness the mornings afforded us involved occasionally passing each other on Spring Street and giving each other a wave as I headed home to shower and she headed to catch the first of her trains. Now we make small talk at lunchtime while waiting in line for the microwave…just like being in a “real” office. And we coordinate our end-of-day schedules so we can go to the gym together for the 6PM class, before we make and eat dinner together. It’s not just about the time we’ve gotten to spend together, it’s also about the pace of things. No more forced entry into the daily rat race. No more (needlessly) wasted time or energy living within the standard workday construct. In so many ways, this pandemic has shown us possibility, and I’ve really enjoyed the possibility that I have seen and seized. Long walks at lunch, because I can. Mom for dinner after tai chi every Thursday, because I can be ready when she gets here at 6. I’ve talked about it all here in fits and starts, but thinking about it all at once finds me grateful for the 19 months we’ve had at home, hopeful that we as a society will preserve the positive changes we’ve discovered during this forced slowdown, and frustrated because I suspect that we as a society will forget that good once we’re back on the giant hamster wheel. I’m ok with going back to the office, and so is Kerri. But we’re both sad about what it means for our day to day…because going back to the office takes away something precious from us that we are powerless to get back—time.
Covid Risk. I haven’t been actively dwelling on my Covid risk for some time, but that’s because a) I’m vaccinated and b) calculating it is something I’m naturally and almost sub-consciously doing on the regular. But with all the talk about boosters and kids not being vaccinated and mandates and blah blah blah, it gives me pause…how much does the household risk profile change when someone’s routine changes? I’m not worried-worried about it, TBH…but it’s more a matter of the realization that 19 months later one of us is just going back to work, we still need to be vigilant about protecting ourselves and people we love, and there’s still massive political division over the vaccine. And that’s crazy. The just-now breaking news that Colin Powell has died of Covid underscores this point in a very real way for me.
Anyhow, wherever you are working today, whatever you’re doing, I hope it finds you optimizing the time you have, alone and together.
Thanks for being here, and have a great week.
I think Ann did a jig when I went back to work. :) Hard to lose that time together but hopefully when the dust settles and you both have your hybrid schedules you can get some of it back. Terrible loss to the cowboys but it was an exciting game. GO SOX!