Once, the routine was familiar. Expected. Normal.
The commute to work. Entering the building. Walking to my office, taking off my coat if it was winter, booting my computer.
Putting my bagged lunch in the refrigerator. Getting water. Making a cup of coffee in the Keurig. Greeting my co-workers. Checking voicemail and email.
Never quite knowing what to expect from the day, but I knew what to expect from the routine.
Later today, I'll be back in the office for a few hours. It will be the first time since Thursday, March 19, 2020. This may amaze many, who returned to the office months or even years ago, but, during the months after I was sent home, I retired but then immediately resumed part time work.
This is the post I wrote the day after I was sent home..
The morning that turned out to be my last day in the office, and the first at home.
Binghamton in the time of COVID (including what happened that morning of March 19).
When we were sent home, I was working temporarily in a different area because my area was being remodeled and updated. That work began in the late fall of 2019. I had packed up everything I wouldn't need during the months of remodeling. I have to laugh now. Months. It's been almost three years since I started to pack.
My manager asked me to come in today to go through those boxes. I don't quite know what I will find.
I don't know what my former space looks like now. There was extensive remodeling since the last time I was in the space. Even the door to the area where I work was relocated.
Other people are working in my area. I still work fully remote. Please don't laugh. How do I interact with these people? (One I know, one I barely know).
I no longer drink coffee.
Why do I have mixed emotions about what is, in a way, a homecoming?
Will I take time to retrace some of my daily routines - eating lunch in a public space or the library garden, taking pictures of the downtown trees, taking a walk past downtown businesses that no longer exist? But, on the other hand, there are new businesses.
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| Collier St, Binghamton, New York 2017 |
Probably not. I don't want to wallow in memories, though it's tempting. The past is the past. So maybe not.
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| Spring renewal |
The past belongs in the past.
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| Roundabout, downtown Binghamton |
I am excited, though.
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| October 2019, downtown Binghamton |
Meanwhile, the space I live in changes. From spring to summer to fall....
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| Broome County Courthouse |
...to winter. Nature remodels and changes, too.
Let me learn again from Nature. As the seasons change from spring to winter, Nature decrees that change is inevitable. So it is with our lives. Now, new things are familiar. Our days here are not to be wasted.
So yes, I am excited.
I can hardly wait for this newest adventure to begin.
Yes, the past belongs in the past. As long as we learn from it. Carol C
ReplyDelete...it looks like I should take a tour of Binghamton.
ReplyDeleteThe world changed and a lot of us never kept up and that's okay, It's nice to get off of the conveyor belt. Enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteYou may well have gone and returned by the time you see this. I expect it will have been better than you were expecting. Excited nerves, yes. It's been a long time. If you went nearly three years without the boxed up items, you probably don't need them at all! That's what I tell myself when I forget I had something. The courthouse in the snow is a beautiful photo.
ReplyDeleteIt’s been a weird time for all of us, hasn’t it?
ReplyDeleteI always say the past would be fun to visit...but I wouldn't want to live there!
ReplyDeleteHave fun!
You'll have to tell us what you find. Is there anything you'll want to keep, or will everything end up getting tossed?
ReplyDeleteMy brother went to fully remote working in 2020, and he still hasn't returned to the office. He now lives several states away, so if they want him back in the office, I think he'll probably tender his resignation.
Hope your days are fruitful and you enjoy your days at work:)
ReplyDelete