9 to 5

I recently returned to the office for the first time in 15 months.

I took my crochet bag but didn't have time to get into it. I didn't take public transportation. I drove. I had to take in a big box of stuff I couldn't have carried on the train. And I'm not quite sure how I feel yet about riding public transportation again. I guess I'm not quite ready for that.

It's pretty amazing how easy cleaning is when you haven't seen things for 15 months. If I didn't need it for 15 months, I can go without. I filled a recycle bin with accumulated junk mail, old paperwork and drawer contents. I wasn't the only one! There were recycle bins placed throughout the floor, and all of them were receiving unhealthy meal proportions!

Back in March of 2020, I thought I'd be working from home for two weeks. So I didn't bother to take my plants home. My little lemon tree (and the lemon seeds I started for co-workers) fried in the office heat of last summer. I think computer rooms were the only locations air conditioning was used to save energy and cut costs.

During our Safer at Home time, I started a new set of lemon seeds at home, and they are doing quite well now! They just got to go back outside for summer a few days ago!

I fully expected all my plants at work would be dead. One of my (essential) co-workers, who was allowed to begin going into the office a couple of hours once each week a full two months after the nightmare of 2020 began took pity on my one surviving plant. She has nursed it along for an entire year now. And this is what I found on my desk when I returned for the first time.

Friends are priceless.

I don't know that things will ever again be the way they were 16 months ago. Some things were good to lose. Other losses forced us to appreciate what we have. What we have now is better than what we had during the darkest parts of 2020.

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