While I mostly work from home, I'll drive into the office one day a week. 

Over the holidays my day-job moved our physical office. The old office was vast and underutilized. We moved to an office that was more appropriately sized.  

The new office is nice but still a work in progress. There are some construction issues such a blocked sink drain and coffee machines that are not working All stuff that can be fixed. Overall the space is pleasant. Smaller, but not too constrained.

I chatted with an employee whose whole career started after the Covid lockdown. As such she was accustomed to either working from home or working in our old, large, office space. She found it a bit weird, but not uncomfortable, to be working physically right next to someone else. 

Afterwards, we went out for drinks. It was good to catch up with my co-workers in a more relaxed setting. My VP attended. He commented "I really enjoyed this. We should do it every month." I had to bite my tongue. We do go out for drinks every month. He is always invited. He rarely attends. 

I carpooled home with a coworker. As much as we enjoyed the evening get together, we do not miss working from an office. We do not miss the commute. We both have at about two more hour per day when  working from home. 

Over January is busy for my husband and he is traveling a lot. Business is busy for him.

It's given me a good chunk of time alone. I've been reading more, working on a jigsaw puzzle and catching up with a few old friends. 

Saturday one of those friends, Clem, and I went on a good hike. Clem is almost 70. We share some of his challenges. 

Clem has always been extremely social and more active in the gay party scene. He frequents bars  and attends all night dances. We discussed how staying engaged and having a normal life is difficult for retired gay men. With so much more free time on their hands, retired gay men can fall into the trap of sex and drugs. He busies him self by volunteering, traveling and working part time jobs. He delivered packages for UPS over the holidays. He will deliver flowers over Valentines. 

Tommy wrote: "I believe that for my generation, if people were actually truthful with themselves and the rest of the world, retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The real achievement in life is the 'achievement of business.'"

I agree with this, and I’m trying to figure out how it applies to me. The phrase "achievement of business" really stands out. It’s easy to think of it as financial success, but I see it as more than that. For example, your work in public service is also a kind of achievement in business, just a different kind.

I’m not sure what my calling is growing into. For years, my career has been about helping big companies get a little more efficient. It’s been rewarding financially, but I’m finding it hard to feel excited about doing this for the next few decades. At the same time, the idea of making a big change feels scary. Still, I’m starting to see that the cost of not trying might be even greater.

Figuring out what my "achievement of business" means to me seems less about sticking to the usual path and more about finding a new idea of success—one that I can really look forward to.

We are in the airport waiting for our flight back to Seattle.

This past week has been wonderful. The New Years week has felt like hanging out with old friends, catching up, playing games, reconnecting. 

Owing to when we met in University, these friends were all born in 1970 and started our careers in Toronto in 1995. There are many similarities in the overall narratives. 

It feels like our lives are transitioning. For my friends who have kids, the last of their children are off to college or finding full time jobs. Our parents are aging. Some have passed away. Some need full time care. And some are making the best with the few years they have left.

Without saying the word “retirement” a few of us are thinking through our post-career life. We are considering jobs that have less stress, but still keep us active. 

We are in Toronto to visit friends and celebrate the new year. It’s going well here. We are renting our own place. It’s nice. Comfortable bed. So we have been sleeping well each night.

My mother in law is back in the hospital again— breathing issues and heart palpitations. My husband is worried and considering flying back early. 

 

Christmas in the Ottawa Valley has been lovely. Have been catching up with friends and family. 

Dad is doing well, even if this is the first Christmas since mom passed.

We have been eating too much pie, ice cream, chocolate, tarts, candies… the list goes on. Tis the season. Diets can wait till January. 

 Am on vacation for the next two weeks. Friday evening we drove my mother-in-law and a friend of hers around to see holiday lights. There are a few neighborhoods that put on a great show. 

The memory foam mattress and pillows arrived at my father's. He has never seen a memory foam mattress before, so he was caught off guard by how much it expanded after he took it out of the package.

He video called me, told me about the mattress. He then took the memory foam pillows out of their packaging so we could watch them expand together. 

Crazy busy at work. Between our day-to-day business, annual planning and career reviews, we've been so busy that we can't think.

For the holidays, my husband and I are flying up to the Ottawa Valley to visit my family. For the first time my husband and I will stay at my fathers. We usually stay in a hotel. 

For our stay, we shipped a new mattress, pillows and sheets to my father's. The cheap/frugal part of him was taken a bit aback. I think he understands though-- he admitted that he got the old mattress decades ago for free.

There are divided values between my husband and I and my family in the Valley. Many of my family are frugal to the point of being cheap. They are proud of that and they are happy! Spending money can be an insult to their values and so my husband and I have to be careful.  Taking family to a nice restaurant or buying someone a nice new jacket when their existing, 20 year old jacket still works-- these will earn you thanks and quiet lecture on the value of being frugal. 

And so, instead of a hotel we will stay at my fathers place.

 

Last night we attended an annual holiday party, hosted by a friend in the program. This party has a white-elephant gift giveaway. Some of the gifts, including the above disco gnome, have been regifted at this party, many times over the years. 

Tommy’s advice is useful. Grab some popcorn. Sit back and enjoy the show. It’s useful for politics. It’s useful for assassinated CEOs. My husband works on the  profitable side of the healthcare industry, As such Thompson’s murder has taken up an outsized share of his work, Linkedin and Facebook gossip.

We had dinner with our neighbors last night. It was good to catch up with them. It’s the start of the holiday season, so our schedule is stuffed with dinners and parties. 

I try to catch a few minutes of quiet when I can. I do my best thinking then. 

My husband enjoys creating elaborate table settings. He is the one in our relationship who has the snap and sparkle. He is great at marketing and sales. 

Overall our dinner went well. Later in the day, my mother-in-law made some comments about republicans (She is pro Trump) that didn't land well.  A few of our guests left shortly after that. Did they leave because it was late in the day? Did they leave because the discussion turned to politics? Who knows.

Friday evening we saw Wicked-- the movie. Sunday we saw Wicked the live musical. I enjoyed both, but I didn't need to see Wicked twice in one weekend. 

 

We are hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for family and a few friends. The guests will be here in a couple of hours. The cooking is midway. Everything is prepped or roasting in the oven.

Happy Thanksgiving all. 

Saturday our guests cleaned out their refrigerator and cleaned up their kitchen. They had to throw out everything as their power had been out since Tuesday. 

Their power returned on Sunday 

We also had a brunch for some of our AA friends on Saturday. It was very long running with our guests not leaving till mid afternoon.

We have had a bomb cyclone here in Seattle. Big windy, rain storm. We are ok and missed the worst of it. 

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a "Bomb cyclone" is a term used to describe a mid-latitude cyclone that has undergone bombogenesis, which occurs when it rapidly strengthens in a 24 hour period. 

Hundreds of thousands of people are without power, especially in the suburbs. We have a couple friends staying with us as they have not had power since Wednesday and probably won’t get it back untill the weekend.