Truth be told, for the past fifty years, I’ve gained inordinate fulfillment from having work that I really enjoy and working with colleagues that I came to both respect and admire. I still share friendships with a person or two that I worked with fifty years ago.
The thing I most miss is the expectation that I show up at an office. I miss the interaction with peers at work. I miss the advantages of working together as a team. I don’t fly solo very well. I’d much prefer to have company along the way. I miss the opportunities for sharing lunch with colleagues and friends on a workday basis. Long story short, I miss the camaraderie associated with daily contact.
Though I left fulltime employment over three years ago, I walked immediately into a role that provided ample opportunities for lots of people contact and the development of friendships with colleagues across state lines. I like walking the hallways on Capitol Hill and commuting to work by Metro or walking and walking and walking.
For the past three years, until the coronavirus pandemic, I hardly had time to catch my breath. My life was mostly a balancing act of juggling family responsibilities, church commitments, and work responsibilities. Sometimes I didn’t get it all done.
I miss setting the alarm clock at 3:30 in the morning in order to make it to the Austin airport in time to check-in and make a very early departure to places far away. I miss having a thousand and one things that need to get done. That’s not to say that I’m not busy, but the confinement of working mostly from home is wearing me down.
Seriously, when the highlight of your day is driving to the post office, just to be out and about is an indication that something isn’t quite right. Telephone calls to colleagues and friends related to work involvements fall short of the energy level that an in-person-visit can provide.
My office phone still rings and I busy myself with work related emails and communications, but I’m itching for real people contact. I am also not a fan of an empty church or having meetings postponed because folks are respecting the need to stay-in-place and avoid travel.
Like I suggested earlier, I don’t live in the real world. The real work world in Texas inched back into the workplace on May 1st, but I don’t know what any of that feels like. Last night I communicated to the General that I have a work meeting in Austin this morning. She looked at me with that “quizzical – have you lost your mind” look.
Under the cloak of transparency, I have to admit that I’m a little anxious. I’m walking back into a work world of actual people contact that I haven’t experienced since early February. I’ve never gone to meet anyone for the first time while wearing a face-mask.
I’m resistive to the notion that, “I’m not quite with it”, but I feel awkwardly out of place. It has been two months since most folks in Texas were permitted to go back to work at Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s urging. After all, we “had to leave something behind for our grandchildren”. Forgive me, I don’t always get it right. That was inappropriately out of line.
I wondered last night what it felt like for folks who were permitted to go back to work on May 1st? I’m sure it was a welcomed relief, but did it feel awkward? The General and I don’t get out much, but the new norm associated with masks and social distancing is one that gives us pause for concern. Don’t get me wrong, I have a healthy respect for being cautionary and not passing my germs on to anyone else. That being said, masks are awkward.
Because the General and I have lived mostly like hermits on our hill for the past four months, the thought of walking into an office building carries a strange connotation. I figure it is like “riding a bicycle”, once you’ve got the skillset figured out, you can duplicate it again and again.
But the truth of the matter is, I’m walking back into a world that at some level is operating at a level that I don’t understand. Earlier this month, the Austin City Council voted to partially defund the Austin Police Department. Don’t get me wrong, but isn’t cutting the budget of the APD by $100 million dollars going to give a bold message to the criminal element that they just been issued a “get out of jail free” card? That seems like the definition of insanity to me.
What a strange world in which we find ourselves. Recent news that 300 high school students attended a “special event” (aka – private party) in Lakeway on June 20th is also disturbing. I know nothing about the gathering other than what I read online, but it also seems to represent some level of parental insanity? Who in their right mind allows their son or daughter to attend a party with 300 other adolescents in the midst of a pandemic? Reportedly, some of those in attendance had been tested for COVID prior to the party. They subsequently received positive test results.
My list of things I don’t understand in the post-COVID world is lengthy. I won’t bore you with the details. I suspect your list may look a lot like mine. I’m simply going to celebrate the fact that I have an “in-person” business meeting this morning.
All My Best!
Don