It is a Sunday in May of 2021. I am sitting at the desk in my home that I work from each day. Phil Mickelson just became the oldest person to ever win the PGA Championship. 60 Minutes is now coming on.
Potatoe and Storme are snuggled up in the chair next to me, both sound asleep. I lost track of Trooper after the kitties had their dinner. There is a good chance that he too is asleep some where in the house, despite it being around 6:30 PM, the time of day that they are usually full of energy and ready for an adventure after their afternoons of napping. The rainy weather makes us all want to take a nap. Pumpkine is in fact out and about in the backyard.
It is more than an hour until sunset, but the sun is hidden behind the thick storm clouds in the gray skies. Without the sunlight, it is dark inside the house. I could turn the light on, but that would add to the electric bill.
I am anxiously awaiting the boys return to the house this evening. I have not seen Little Chirp since Friday and Brainy Bird since Thursday. Since Covid, this is one of the longest stretches of time that they have been gone. Of course, I miss them. I think the fur kids miss the human kids too.
I am excited to tell Little Chirp about the vegetable chili that I made. I feel slightly guilty that I made it fresh tonight for myself. I did not realize that something I cooked would turn out to be so delicious. There is more than enough for dinner tomorrow. I will debate with Little Chirp on whether or not to add more meat. The recipe calls for a pound of grass fed beef stew meat, a minimal amount of meat for a recipe that yields a full pot of stew. The vegetables are the main event, and that is the idea. Knowing that Little Chirp loves vegetables, but loves beef even more, I already have a second pound of meat on hand. I can brown it and add it in tomorrow.
I am excited for Brainy Bird to get here so that I can give him a hug. That’s our new thing. There are only so many more days that I get to have hugs. I am not going to let any of those days get away.
I think back to this day last year. We were on Day 68 of the shutdown. There was a glimmer of hope that life was returning to normal, only to have the shutdown reinforced. On this particular day last year, I was in good spirits over having finally finished unpacking in our new house. I was sitting in the extra room of the house writing in my blog. Now, I am on the other side of the wall of that room, and I am again thinking that I want to take the wall out and open the room up. I am pretty sure that I will one day.
I think back beyond the particular events of this day last year to all that was on my mind day in and day out. I felt stressed about whether the boys would be able to return to school in the fall. I wondered where Brainy Bird would choose to go to school. I felt a great deal of trepidation toward the college application process. Little did I know, Brainy Bird would fly with it almost completely on his own. Little did I know, the outcome would exceed my greatest expectations.
This time last year, I was hanging on every day to the little things in life to keep going everyday. I will forever embrace the little things in life, but I also appreciate that the big picture of my life is amazing. I feel grateful and blessed. I am excited about the days ahead.