This week feels like it’s been 20 days long. Seriously. Yesterday it felt like everything I touched was destined to go directly to the crapper.
The captain and I have our own work spaces. She is in one end of the house and I in the other. This is strategic since we both are on conference calls throughout the day and we need to minimize the noise. Since the kid is basically asleep until 2ish, she is no concern noise wise. The animals though are having to adjust to our sharing of space. Let me explain.
Yesterday, I had a fairly light day in terms of scheduled meetings which was ideal as I was working on a process map and needed to concentrate on the boxes, steps, connectors….all the fun things that make working with Visio a pure joy. Now…to be fair….I love my job and I enjoy this part of it a good deal, so I wasn’t complaining at all. Work was going well and then Sammie, our Orange tabby jumped up on the desk and proceeded to lay flat down on the desk between the laptop and me. This resulted in not only a ton of orange cat hair all over my workspace, but also a very long line of the letter ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp. (She was rested on the keyboard). I stopped for a moment to scratch her chin and rub her head. I believe it’s important to be mindful of these little opportunities to appreciate love that comes you way. That is subject to change as the days roll on. I picked her up and set her over on the table that looks out over the front yard. She immediately focused on a fat bluejay. I went back to work.
The sky outside started to darken and I noticed that i could feel a breeze coming thru the window where the cats were perched. Our old dog Bailey was asleep on the floor behind my chair. Bailey is a well-behaved, sweet and gentle fella. Until there is a storm. Then he becomes a raging 3 year old hopped up on pop rocks and needing a nap. Sure enough, a large clap of lightening and thunder rousted the old guy and he flung himself under my desk. In the process, he pushed the power strips against the wall, shutting down the power to everything on my desk. Remember the map I was working on….gone. My email drafts…lost. My project plan updates…zero. Yes, I was multi-tasking. No, I didn’t auto-save. I bent down to coax him out. He was not a fan. I physically got down on the floor and pulled him up at which point he stood…..farted….and slowly strolled out of my office. Once I caught my breath, I went back to work.
In the grand scheme of things, these issues are very minor. There are those who are struggling to work, homeschool one or more kids and try to take care of their households with food and clean cloths. I’m not complaining. But I don’t quite like the term “new normal”. This isn’t permanent and it’s certainly not normal. It’s our present situation that hopefully is temporary. Although….given the opportunity to expel his personal brand of noxious fumes directly to my face..Bailey would make it a regular occurrence.