The New Normal

 Let me just state that I don't like the new normal.  The normal means for me working 24/7 - and I don't like it.  When I was a little girl and I played "secretary" I sat behind my desk and my toy typewrite and pretended to work.  And I pretended to work 9 to 5 with a lunch hour and breaks.  Boy, was I a dreamer.  

I have a different title now and I am not sure the term secretary in used anymore, you more of a personal assistant or administrative assistant.  Although we do have the Secretary of State, etc., which mean something different.  

When Covid hit - working from home became the new normal for a lot of people.  I hate working from home.  I hear the tv, the dog wants to sit on my lap and everyone talks to me.  While at work I hear music, the dog is at home and everyone still talks to me;  but usually about work.  The fact is almost everyone I deal with is working from home which means everyone now has a different timetable they are working.  We have the early birds, the after lunch bunch, they hey I just start  moving at 3 and the night owls.  I just want to work 8:30 am to 5 pm with some sort of break at lunch, but that just doesn't happen anymore.  Because they work, they think I work;  and when someone decides they have a question on a Sunday afternoon they call.  

Guess what people, I food shop, go to the drug store, take a nap and cook.  I clean my house, go to church and see my family.  I do laundry, I like to read (although it has been forever) and crochet (same for crochet) and in the summer -- garden (which went to hell this summer).  

Maybe I am just to old for this, I come from a whole different generation than everyone else I work with.  I still can remember when I rested on a Sunday.  

Speaking of rest, I need a nap. I will say this, my Company is very good to me.  Although I think they sometimes live in that perfect world I dream about when they say enjoy your time off.  There is not a time I am truly off - I would have to go completely off the grid with no computer and phone.   I need to learn to camp or something.  To completely unplug, how nice that would be for just even a day.

Well, I am done whining for now.  Occasionally it happens, LOL, but that's Another day in Catasauqua.

Christmas Spirit 2020

 I don't get much time anymore to write this blog, but I felt the need to write about Christmas Spirit, or the acute lack thereof, this year.  It is peculiar times; Covid has cause isolation even in a crowd.  Our masks cover not just our mouth and nose, but our smiles.  Social distancing has caused the absents of hugs and kisses, (Thank you Emmy for not following that and giving me a big, meaningful hug today),

Some people are even spending the time alone at this holiday, maybe for the first time.  A holiday that circles around family.  From the story of a baby, born to a virgin mother and a earthly father who raise Him in love,  Everyone visits that baby,  shepherds, wisemen and if the song is right, a little drummer boy.  That family is why we celebrate with our families and love ones.  That is why we share gifts at the holiday as a symbol of love to each other, sometimes even as a symbol of hope as did the gifts of the Magi, of frankincense, myrrh and  gold, gifts for a future king.

When I have gone shopping this past week the spirit that is usually there every year that you could catch in a strangers smile as they held the door, or talking with people in a long line at the store while you wait to check out, is missing.  You can't talk unless you shout, people can't understand you because the mask muffles your voice.  Handshakes and hugs don't exist and there is a sadness about that.  But what even makes me worry is that this will be an ongoing way of existence.  

All stories from a Peanuts Christmas to Twas the Night before Christmas revolves around people and family.  Will the future Santa wear a Hazmat suit and use hand sanitizer, think of all the cross contamination that man causes.  

How will Hallmark Christmas movies ever find love is a social distance society.  How will Snoopy kiss Lucy through a mask, oh the inhumanity of it all.

Well, I have no answers, only questions and I can only hope and pray that the future will be better.  That the Christmas Spirit will return, that hugs will come back.   

Until then, I wish you peace, love and hope this Christmas, and that's another day in Catasauqua