It is Friday, April 24, 2020. The summer heat is here. Little Chirp asked around 8 AM this morning if he could go out and play basketball before it gets too hot today. To my surprise, it is almost 10:00 AM, and he is still dribbling away. By 9:00 AM the court has full sun, and it is hot.
My work day is already off to a busy start, and I won’t be finished until around 6:30 tonight. I used like Fridays at the office that ended late because they gave me an excuse to go to a steakhouse bar and enjoy a glass of wine downtown instead of sitting in Friday traffic.
Of each day of the week, I think that Fridays are the hardest in the “New Normal”. I find myself thinking a great deal about how much I miss my life as it was before the “New Normal”. Fridays before the “New Normal” consisted of one of three scenarios.
Scenario 1 – I had flown back from Calgary late the night before, and I would enjoy a day working from home on Friday. I would go to my favorite breakfast spot right by my house for coffee and to catch up with Brooke, one of the owners. Needless to say, the novelty of working from home has completely worn off, and I really miss coffee time with Brooke.
Scenario 2 – I woke up in Calgary, and I would enjoy breakfast at my favorite spot in Calgary during our weekly internal leadership call. Julie was always my waitress, and she was always happy to see me. I am specific about my breakfast, super hot coffee, extra ice is my water, extra crispy bacon, eggs over medium, thus yolks that are a little hard in the center, but still runny around the edges. Julie always got my breakfast exactly right. I would then arrive at the office in time to pick up hash browns from A&W for my client. This was a universal favorite treat. It always may me smile to see the healthy eaters in the group have their morning yogurt with a hash brown. I would fly home that evening, and Brainy Bird would pick me up from the airport, and we would go out for a late dinner to catch up on our week.
Scenario 3 – I worked in Houston all week. This meant that the boys were with me all week, and headed to their dad’s house for the night, so I would stay at the office late, and then look forward to a glass of wine, or meeting my friends out for happy hour at our favorite bar.
I wonder how I will spend my first Friday when the “New Normal” is over. My than anything I wonder when that first Friday will be. Governor Abbott is making moves towards reopening our economy, and we are expecting a big announcement for Texas on Monday, but we have been expecting a big announcement from him each week for the past couple of weeks. All of this is further complicated by Harris County leadership moving in a completely different direction.
My morning coffee break is over. I need to get back to work. I hope that next Friday, I will be writing my blog post from my favorite breakfast place around the corner from my house.
It is the little things in life.