Moving to Whitehall had one, clear disadvantage…the commute. Prior to the move, we spent less than 30 minutes a day making the journey. For me, my path was so short that on a nice day, I could make it on my scooter. It was the dream. Sun shining, wind blowing at my face (since I don’t have hair), and front row parking at work. Obviously, the next logical step was to add 45 miles to that drive, rush hour traffic jams, snow, and ice in the winter.
Honestly, the drive has never been much of an issue. On most days, Ben and I ride together which provides some quality time.. It is also beneficial to have the moment to process the day, unwind, and mentally turn off work mode. This clearly all came with a price though. We spend over two hours a day less with Charlie, finding a daycare that worked with our hours was a challenge, and we had to hire a dog walker for Ralphie since we are typically gone 11-12 hours each work day. This also makes dinner difficult, and I always felt like our evenings were short.
Everything is different now. COVID-19 hit and the world, like a clumsy turtle, flipped on its back. Our one plus hour morning drive has been traded in for a nanosecond of dial time. We went from waking everyday at 5AM and going to bed at 9PM, to lazily sleeping in until 7AM and staying up, dare I say, past 11PM! The audio books while driving have been swapped with Teams Meetings and the cubicle side chats to countless emails. Life looks different. At times, it is hard to see the good through the turmoil. We are inundated with negative press and controversial situations on a daily basis. I obsessed with viewing the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracker. My work has been constant COVID-19 response since March 13 and it is hard to disconnect. My dreams are filled with computer glitches and COVID testing, my calendars are filled with meeting after meeting on how to better respond as an organization to the crisis, my TV is a non-stop reminder that things are different, and my web searches full of the latest studies, opinions and projections on what is to come. And honestly, no one really knows.
So, I have started to take careful steps to find balance in my life. I don’t watch the evening news as much. I skip most of the articles in my Yahoo or Apple News feed. At work, I look for small opportunities to shift some focus from COVID-19 to something more refreshing like department profile optimization (sounds like blast, eh?). I am also trying to be more conscious of the good that can come from the chaos, such as the modern commute.
It is hard to know how long the floods will last from the rain of COVID-19, but for the time being, I can count my blessings that each day I get two hours back that were once lost to the road to spend with Charlie. If you read my last post, I mentioned a quote from Gretchen Rubin, “the days are long but the years are short.” I can’t stress how much that resonates with me as I get older. It is the constant echo of a ringing church bell reminding me that time is running out. So, if one thing good can come from this new normal, I’ll take the extra time and hope it one of those things that lasts.
Post Feature Photo by Geoffrey Arduini on Unsplash