It was never my intention to be gone so long. I think when I checked out on April 1, 2019–a whole pandemic ago!–I figured I would take a month, recharge my batteries a little, and get right back to it. Didn’t quite work out that way, did it? Instead, this blog was like the relatives you lose touch with. Maybe you poke each other on social media once in a while but you don’t call. “I’ll do it next week,” you tell yourself, but you don’t. And then when you realize months have gone by it becomes easier not to call, because then you have to deal with the guilt about why you haven’t called, and on and on it goes (Yes, the blog is not the only thing I have neglected in my life, hah ha).

The good thing is I am well. My family is well. We have thus far survived what is two years of COVID without getting COVID (as far as any of us know, anyway), a pretty good trick considering the Catbird spent the first year-and-a-half of the pandemic working in a nursing home. I’ve been officially working from home since March 12, 2020 and I will continue working from home for the foreseeable future because, a) my boss is a decent human being; b) we have proven as an organization that we are collectively capable of working remotely; and c) as much as we want to believe otherwise, we’re still in a pandemic, people are still getting spectacularly sick, and people are still dying in large numbers. I am thankful that I have a job that allows me to work remotely AND that I’ve also been able to continue the outdoor portions of my job with minor alterations all along, despite never falling into the category of “essential worker.” Many others were not so fortunate. 

This is about all I’ve got for now. I have to say, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, the guilt. There will be more coming from me, I promise I won’t let it be so long next time, really! In the meantime, I hope all of you are doing well. Let me know if you’re still around (and getting notifications about this blog, hah ha) by leaving a comment below. Until next time, be safe, be smart, be well. Cheers.