Happy Friday, friends. If you had a short week, I hope it was good to you. It’s been raining here in Houston for the greater part of the week, which tends to be an excuse for me to kind of slow down a bit. I’ve been especially nostalgic lately, especially as the fog lifts on the pandemic, and we begin living with endemic COVID in our lives.
This week, I snuck a tennis lesson in. I grossly underestimated how sore I would be after a two hour tennis lesson. I’m really enjoying it, and I’m glad I decided to give it a try.
Home to me
What does home mean to you? For me, especially this time last year, home literally meant the four walls that comprised our townhouse – and the conversations we had and the memories we made while we did our best to “stay in.” I don’t think many people will ever forget 2020. I know Aaron and I certainly won’t. Our lives changed, and our new normal is here to stay.
For me, that means working from home. I’m still not back in my office, and my “return to work” date was just pushed from September to possibly the beginning of next year. I’m not holding my breath, and I’m doing my best to roll with the punches. I haven’t fully allowed myself to embrace remote work. Partially because I’ve always held a bit of space in the back of my mind that I’d be back in the office one day. Turns out, that’s probably going to look a tad different. And you know what, I think I’ll be okay with that. My new normal will mean working from home about four days out of the week, and I’ll be back in my office one day. This means that I need to make more of a conscious effort to plan lunch meetings with co-workers so I can see them in person.
For Aaron, well, the way he does business has changed significantly over the course of 2020, and it’s all for the good. His business has grown and thrived in a time when it was really tough. And, I’m so proud of him. I’ll have to share at some point some ins and outs of how the business has morphed over the years. He has gone as remote as possible, and his business model is pretty fantastic. He has some offices in Houston and the greater Houston area, and he will keep those. But, he can be remote if wants – or he can go interface with clients if he prefers.
I’ve also been really nostalgic lately about losing Sawyer. It feels strange to keep moving forward and making new memories without him. I think part of it is a little bit of guilt I’m holding from getting the puppies. But, I know he would want me to be happy. He was such a special guy in my life, that I wish he could be here with me to experience life with us. I love having the puppies – don’t get me wrong – they’ve brought so much joy to our lives – and, as we continue to learn their personalities, I know they will fit into our family wonderfully. Sawyer played such a big part last year in making sense out of the world when things didn’t make sense. When I was anxious, he was home to me. I miss our boy dearly.
Home in 2021
And, when we purchased our actual home in September 2020, I felt like a checked a big box off our “adulting list.” So, when our home got damaged in the freeze, and we lost Sawyer pretty suddenly, it just wasn’t how I expected 2021 to go. Surely it had to be better than 2020? And, when it wasn’t, I had to recalibrate some expectations for awhile. I was disappointed, frustrated and sad. But, now that I’m on the other side of processing some of my grief – and getting through our house repairs, home is truly where the heart is. Aaron and I have made such a solid little family out of our chaos over the years. And, if we made it through 2020, we most certainly can tackle the challenges that come our way. Whether they are obstacles that we will all undoubtedly encounter – or when things just generally don’t pan out how we expected. I’m proud of the “home” we’ve built together – and it’s looked a lot different than how we probably expected it to be when we said “I do” nearly five years ago. And, for us, home is truly where the heart is.
So, thanks for letting me veer off course a bit on this Friday. I hope you have a fabulous end to your week and a wonderful weekend. We have zero plans on the books, and I plan on enjoying the comforts of our home!
