I am d-o-n-e DONE with work for the year. Bring on 2 solid weeks of vacation!
It has been a weird year in my work life. I started a new role late in 2019, and it was formalized in February. It’s an important role supporting both the Gateway program and NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, as an independent voice — a “checks and balances” thing, if you will. I am responsible for things, but also not responsible for things. I am part of a team, but also not part of a team. It is a respected yet odd place to be, and it can be very isolating. Throw in covid, of course, and that isolation is multiplied by about a thousand.
And it looks like we will continue to work from home for quite a bit longer. So while I don’t plan to work for the next two weeks, I do hope to spend a bit of time thinking about how I can improve my work life in 2021.
In about 2 hours, Emma will be done with school as well and also off for two weeks. It’s been two months since she went back to in-person school (after doing the first quarter online). When we made the decision to send her back, we were cautiously optimistic and so far, that optimism has held up. There have been 3 confirmed cases of covid at her school, all in the last 3 weeks. That does make me nervous for January, when many of the staff and students will certainly have traveled and/or spent time with family and friends. But I also recognize that 3 cases in a school of 500+ people over a span of 2 months is actually a pretty great track record.
And Emma, of course, loves being back in school with her friends and teachers. Jose and I are less stressed by having most of the workday to ourselves. I feel lucky to have the in-person option for Emma, knowing that many places in the country are only doing partial schedules or are still entirely virtual.
Charlotte’s daycare is open most of the break, so she will probably go to school for a couple days each week, and stay home for the rest. It’s funny to realize how quickly we get used to our daily routines — I find myself getting a little overwhelmed with thoughts of “but what are we all going to do just home for two weeks?”
And then I remember that we were all home from March through June! And even after Charlotte went back to daycare, Jose, Emma, and I were all home from March through October! So two weeks? That’s barely anything.
p.s. I’m doing a 31 day blogging challenge.
