A cold day in January would be a redundant title if I lived in Canada or a northern state where it is cold day in and day out in January. Here in Houston, it is a warm day in January as often as it is a cold day. Yesterday, it was in fact a warm day in Houston, and today it is cold and a bit windy.
I am downstairs below my doctor’s office at a charming mom and pop cafe. The house coffee is warm, dark roast, rich brew. I am going to be late for my doctor’s appointment at the pace that I am moving, but I want to enjoy my coffee.
My doctor’s appointment is for my ear, which is completely blocked. I am not sure if fluid or wax is causing the blockage, but it uncomfortable, and it is significantly impacting my hearing. I am hoping that my doctor can resolve the issue this morning. I do not want to stumble through another workday in this state.
After the doctor’s appointment this morning, I will be working from home. My routine is now two to three days a week in the office, and then two to three days a week at home. This is working well on all fronts. I am happy to report that Potatoe has been accident free all month. I cannot believe that January is more than half over. I also cannot believe that we are coming up on the two-year anniversary of the shutdown brought on by the pandemic.
I do not remember if it was a cold day on this day of January last year, but I do remember thinking about the fact that we were approaching the one-year anniversary of the pandemic, and it seemed hard to believe. I remember believing that we were near the end of the madness, and I remember being afraid to be hopeful. An entire year later, we are exactly where we were a year ago.
On the family front, a year ago today, we wondered where Brainy Bird would go to college. We were ecstatic about his many options, and there would be more options in the upcoming months. Little Chirp was on the bench at his basketball games after working so hard to make the team, he broke his wrist early in the season. I wondered where the energy markets were headed.
I do remember it was a cold day on this day of January two years ago, because I was in Calgary, Alberta. I also remember we were beginning to hear about the Covid virus. The world was attempting to contain the virus in Wuhan, China. We were going about our daily lives. I was still traveling to Canada, and I would leave the next morning. Brainy Bird was a junior in high school, and Little Chirp was in middle school. Looking back just two years, it feels like another life. Little did we know of the disruption that awaited our lives in 2020. January was always a time of goal setting, hopefulness, and excitement. Covid took that away.
While I stopped setting goals, being hopeful and dreaming, my son began setting his own goals and having dreams of his own. In the two years of the pandemic, he went from being an unhappy, lost high school junior to an extremely happy, goal-oriented college junior. He is in his second semester of his freshman year at the University of South Carolina, but from hours perspective, he is a junior. At the end of this semester, he will be a senior. I think that it is time to follow suit with Brainy Bird and take my life back. I do still feel a sense of caution in my heart, but I am setting goals and I am dreaming again. Pandemic or no pandemic, 2022, here I come.