Dearest Rachel –
I’m sure I’ve mentioned it over the past couple of years worth of letters, but you’ll remember either way how it was a running joke within our little family that the three of us always got the same amount of cold when it swept through the house; we just got it over different periods of time. I would, assuming I could let myself, be flat on my back for a day or so, and then be ready to get back to my usual routine, albeit a little worse for wear for the next couple of days. Daniel would struggle through for a week or so of symptoms before being able to declare himself free of it. And you? You would barely acknowledge it, apart from a certain run-down feeling, and the occasional nagging cough or sneeze, but it would take you a month or so to finally shake it off. Not that I could remember, but it’s possible you were dealing with the last vestiges of one even as you were insisting that we head up to camp to meet your fate; because you wouldn’t let something as small as that slow you down, especially when opportunities to get out and do something were so few and far between in the midst of the universal quarantine.
That’s a bit how things stand today, honey. I’m nowhere near a hundred percent, and probably won’t be for the next couple of days (which puts paid to doing much of anything this weekend with anyone, but who did I have to do stuff with, anyway?), but as I have stuff that needs to be done, deadlines that need to be met, and promises (if only to myself) that I need to keep, I think I’m going to venture out of the house for the first time in some thirty-odd hours or so, and take care of these things. It may not be the most prudent course of action, but it’s the only way to get this stuff done.
I’ve never had a lot of confidence in the idea of telecommuting. There’s just too many things at home to do that aren’t work that call for your attention, whether they deserve it or not. As a result, the stuff that needs to get done often gets passed over for the stuff you feel like doing at a given moment. Now, most of the time, that no longer matters to me, but considering that the auditors are waiting for a final sign-off on their work, and the elders will be meeting next week, I actually have to get a few things processed, checked and confirmed either today or early next week – and the more I can get done today, the less I have to worry about still needing to finish later. And in order to do that, I need to be at the ‘office’ so that I can focus on these things without being distracted.
Additionally, while I have a lot of information in the cloud, I can’t always guarantee that what I need to work on is out there. Some of my stuff is saved on the machine that I have over at the folks’, and nowhere else. So that also requires me to cross town to access it. It’s a little inconvenient, but in comparison to having an actual office to go to, this is no big deal at all. And again, since it forces me to focus (at least a little bit), it all works out.
Still, I find myself apologizing to Daniel as I prepare to head out for the few hours I’ll be gone (reminding him that I’ll be home in time for that visit from the health care professional from our insurance company); I don’t like leaving him alone, even though he seems perfectly comfortable being on his own, just like you and I used to be when we were kids (although when we were his age, we had already been married for five years or so, so alone time wasn’t what it used to be). Ironically, he’d had plans of his own for the day – going out to use up his weekly stipend from the Korean place he’d won free meals from when I was out of town – and was rather hoping I wouldn’t mind his doing so. By deciding to head out to the ‘office,’ I had inadvertently given him full permission to strike out on his own and do what he wanted to for the afternoon. So it all works out in the end.
Still, with all that being said, I suppose it couldn’t hurt if you were to keep an eye on the both of us, honey, and wish us luck. I’m pretty sure we’re still going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 