So...week one of the "new normal" is in the books, and while it probably went a little better than expected, I suppose I feel anything but settled. This past week I was only in person two days, and this coming week will be three days. I'll alternate that way at least through the end of December. I honestly can't say at this point which will be better--some days being home is hard, and being in the office with only a fraction of the people is hard. It's so strange how two very different routines have now intersected and made things all sorts of unsettled again--not bad, just unsettled. I feel like I'm very much back to the one-day-at-a-time mantra--I mean, it's really always felt that way, but this week it's definitely felt like one day is all I can take on in the moment simply because what day it is changes my entire routine!
In case you didn't assume, Jacob's COVID test ended up negative, so at least we were able to feel a little more settled by Sunday and Monday, even if the kids were still a little sneezy. We still didn't do much, mind you. Well, I take that back--I did go to Buffalo on Sunday for my cousin's baby's baptism, and then I basically cleaned my entire house between Sunday night and Monday afternoon because my mom mentioned on Sunday that she and my aunt (the one we visited in North Carolina three years ago who's been visiting this week) might stop in on their way back from a craft show down near Letchworth, since my aunt had never been to our house (her last Rochester visit was when we were still at the old one). They said not to worry about cleaning, but the house needed it. Badly. Let's just say that keeping it company-ready hasn't been a priority during the entire pandemic, and things really got hard over the summer with the kids home and pandemic fatigue hitting a new, oddly exhausting plateau. I guess it was good to have an excuse, and with a long weekend, I actually had the time. We'll see how long it lasts. It was good timing since the cable guy had to come on Thursday, so we got a two-for-one on outside guests! But it was nice visiting with them on Monday and having another chance to see my aunt.
On Monday night, it was just Carter and me, and since the weather was gorgeous (it's been amazing all month and came to a crashing halt this weekend), I figured we'd do what we do best--hit up a playground. However, instead of it being a payoff for dragging him on errands, I wanted to first take a walk along the canal to see how the colors looked. Then we could go to the playground in Greece Canal Park. We hadn't been there in a while so it was probably practically like a new one to him!
Color change around here has been slow and spotty so far. It's been strangely warm almost all month--shorts weather for the kids, even--so the leaves haven't done much. There are some diseased trees, like a lot of red maples, that just turned brown and dropped, and the trees with the tiny leaves that turn yellow early are rapidly changing, but everywhere else you look is mostly green still. But when I drove over the canal last weekend, it did look like there was some color change there so I was curious what it would look like closer to home.
I feel like this tree near the parking area was pretty representative of fall so far.
As we walked to the path, I noticed some deer in the distance. They were still there when we came back, so it must have been good eatin' in that area.
On the path, there was quite a bit of color change, but it seemed most of it was on all of the invasive vines that hang on most of the trees. I think most of it is the same kind of pesky grapevines I get in my yard. But I have to admit, they were pretty.
Some trees did have a little color, but the vines were adding a lot of the reds.
It was a super pleasant night--still relatively warm with the makings of a pretty sunset.
So many red vines!
There's been a lot of talk (and some action) in recent years about clearing out foliage along the canal, and while I'm sure some cleanup should be done, it would be such a shame if they did the clear-cutting they originally started doing further up the canal. It's so natural and pretty in all seasons, but especially now, and wouldn't be the same with all these trees gone.
Then the western sky turned very orange. It was beautiful!
I tried to keep up chasing Carter around the playground, but kept taking breaks (especially up high) to take pictures. It was so gorgeous!
Eventually it settled back into these pinks and purples, and got rapidly darker from there.
We played for a bit, although one big chase left me pretty winded and things went a bit downhill from there. Somehow it's very hard to catch Carter on the playground, but when it's his turn to catch me I feel like he's always right on my tail!
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| A standoff with him on top of the mountain! |
We probably didn't get as much time as he would have liked because of how quickly it got dark, but knowing there's plenty of wildlife in the woods (including coyotes) and there was definitely motion out in the trees nearby, I wasn't sure how long we should stick around once it got significantly darker. But it was a nice evening and I was glad we got out for a bit since last weekend was lacking any photogenic opportunities and I was missing them!
Tuesday began my official "new normal" hybrid work schedule. Even though Tuesday will normally be a home day for me, I went in because I didn't want to wait until Friday to do a full run-through and get my work station set up. I feel like the anxiety would have driven me nuts, so I had to rip off the band-aid right away. Normally I will be in the office on Mondays and Fridays, plus every other Wednesday. Our entire team was supposed to be in every Wednesday, but because everyone in our suite opted for Wednesday, they decided to alternate departments for spacing. It makes my weeks a little weirder, for sure--because on two-day weeks I'm in and out every other day, and on three-day weeks, I have a full three-day stretch at home bookended by office days. Part of me wishes I had done a Monday-Tuesday or Thursday-Friday so I'd have a little less back and forth and what seems like a longer weekend at home, but right now the days I'm home are better for our therapy schedule and it ensures I'll see my boss in person at least once a week. I feel like it's going to take a few weeks to get a handle on what I actually end up preferring, both in the home vs. office debate and the schedule itself. Will everything feel too disjointed going every other day? Would it be easier to just leave my computer for two or three days and then bring it home for a few? Or will the change of scenery be helpful and break up the week better? I seriously have no idea.
It's so odd to me that 19 years of a working routine were so completely upended by 19 months of something different. We've all been marveling at how discombobulated we are coming into the office. One person forgot to pack a lunch. One forgot a computer. We're all just thrown off by the commute and the entire process, despite having done it so naturally less than two years ago, and hardly being able to imagine being functional for even two weeks at home when this all began. All this time I fully expected I'd want to hug everyone I saw as we got back, but everything's been pretty chill just trying to settle back in. It definitely doesn't feel like a full nineteen months away, that's for sure.
Our team made it about 17 months still intact, and then two team members left at the end of the summer. Now one more is retiring in two weeks. It was already weird enough having our team be smaller, and now only a few people are in on any given day, which is even weirder. I can't help but wonder how many more changes we'll see as people settle back into this new normal and realize it's not working for them anymore. I think my boss would retire in a heartbeat if she could afford it because working in the office with COVID makes her nervous and she's just happier at home. Everyone has different emotions about this whole thing, most of which are quite mixed, and it's been interesting seeing even the most poised folks admitting this has thrown them off.
As I said, I'm still not sure where my feelings lie. I have enjoyed dressing up a bit again (even though I don't have to) because a t-shirt and jeans gets boring after a while. I haven't minded my commute, since I discovered during the pandemic that I appreciated it as a buffer and a time to unwind before getting home and starting the dinner rush. It's also not as prone to traffic with so many people still working from home. I like seeing people again, and that was reinforced when I was able to help a colleague in person with a mail merge issue on Friday. I also like having a bit more of a routine because it makes me feel a little more accomplished first thing in the morning.
On the other hand, Sunday night feels more intimidating again, knowing that I have to actually get up early and get out of the house on time. That morning at home buffer is gone. Trying to prepare myself for at-work lunches and making sure I have everything I need on any given day is going to be challenging, especially since Mondays my computer will be in the office already, and other days I'll have to remember to bring it. It's just the whole feeling of having to be "on" right off the bat after a weekend, not just for the kids, but for me as well, and that hasn't really been the case in a year and a half.
Even still, it's just one day, and then I can regroup back at home for a day or three. And in a week it's only two or three work lunches, work outfits, or commutes to manage. On my home days I can still do my laundry during the day, catch up on TV, and cook more complex lunches. It may not be every day anymore, but on those other days I get to see people, get a change of scenery, and dress like an adult again. Maybe we'll even get the added benefit of random free food or office events once in a while, too. I truly like both in their own ways--but it just depends on the day to see whether the day and my mood match up.
I realized that under no circumstances can all of the good stuff co-exist every single day, so maybe moderate doses of all of them will be the next best thing. I am really hopeful this will be the work-life balance I never knew I needed. Well, I knew I needed better work-life balance pre-pandemic, I just didn't know that handling it this way might be possible. Balance was a very tricky thing during the pandemic because I could handle all of the home stuff better, but the work boundaries just weren't there so sometimes it was harder to focus during the day or escape at the end of it. But so far somehow this feels like it's not a bad compromise. Maybe I will tire of it, maybe I will discover I have a clear favorite, but for now, I think it'll work. And whatever gets figured out after December, I guess we'll just have to roll with it as best we can and brace for the fallout.
Throughout the pandemic, I was never sure what was harder--knowing that while our days were monotonous, change would eventually come; or knowing once it was over that we'd be back to our old routines with no change in sight. Sometimes that hope of change kept things tolerable, so I've never been sure how it would feel to know that was over unless we actively created our own change, which gets scary in its own right. So I guess this changeable, all-over-the-map schedule prolongs that a bit and keeps things interesting. Never a dull moment, I guess. I got my fill of dull moments during the pandemic, so perhaps my tolerance for busyness will be higher for a while.
Anyway, it's been an interesting week. Let's see how week two goes...
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