The first week of September came with some baggage. Normally this is the month that starts with Labor Day a few days in and then turns into chaos after that. This time we had a few days to get started without the holiday, which falls seven days afterward. This gave me an entire week to have everything happen before the holiday arrives.
Back when I graduated high school, on graduation day I had my braces removed and a nearly invisible metal bridge put in. That three-piece set of hardware stayed with me for 48 years and chose now to come apart. As I was doing my nightly flossing, the wire detached and performed a perfect dive into the sink. Fortunately, it left no rough pieces behind, so this week I went to the dentist and had the bands removed, making me metal free and having to adjust to my teeth’s new normal. What surprised me is how different flossing is now that I don’t need to navigate an orthodontic piece after nearly five decades of routine.
My social media feed kept throwing negativity my way, mentioning anti-vaccine items alongside news of the first new cases of measles taking the lives of infants among other things. A new series of posts honoring children whose lives were taken either by their own hands after bullying or at the hands of others, were interspersed with recollections of 9/11, which is less than a week away. Children died both in the towers and aboard the flights. For all the deaths mentioned this week, it could fill a stadium.
The weather has been chaotic as well, and I sat in the office munching on lunch while tempests swirled outside. Inside the office it was 68 degrees, and everybody (meaning about a quarter full floor of humanity for reasons I still can’t fathom) wears sweaters. I was ready to bring in a pair of mittens, for my hands were getting borderline chapped from the chilly air blasting from the overhead ducts. Maintenance is trying to fix it, but I think they need to bring a Boomer out of retirement to really figure it out. These new folks don’t have the same training or seasoned experience. Sorry guys.
On the days I work from home, my laptop and external monitors have been rebelling and shutting off at unpredictable times. Strangely, the work issued monitor is the one that shuts off, while my second personal monitor stays reliable. I had fun with the IT department while we tried to remotely figure out what magic routine would restore me to side-by-side production.
Finally, I have been reading physical newspapers all my life, and the process of weaning myself from this has been difficult. Some people may think that the days of doing crossword puzzles in ink on actual paper are fading away, but since I began doing online puzzles my interest in the physical media has been mostly for headlines, comics and “Dear Abby.” Since Jeanne Phillips no longer does the column herself and has retired to let the staffers handle the incoming requests for advice, that was the signal for me to separate further from the monthly expense. I called the local paper and found out that I had a balance, so by downgrading I wouldn’t need to pay a bill for some time. Reminds me of the time, when I was much younger, that I lost track of a magazine subscription and was paid in advance for over two years. Thank goodness advance pay can give the budget a break for a while.
When I came up for air, the weekend had arrived, so I’ve been using these three days to do some work around the house before the day after Labor Day comes and school starts. Everybody who was off the grid for June, July and August and who got a bonus week in September will be trying to wade through the deluge of real life.
I feel like I’ve gotten a head start.
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