Quarterly Portrait: A Season of Firsts

The last few months have been a season of firsts. The formula has gone something like this: today I ____ for the first time in ____ hundred days, and it was _____.

Continuing the trend…

Today, I’m writing on this old blog for the first time in 84 days, the longest such gap since I started it in 2013. While I can’t quite point to a reason for the work stoppage, other than the general craziness of everything in the last sixteen months, I do know that I’ve missed writing and sharing my ideas and experiences here.

Since May, I was vaccinated and began to venture out into the world carefully and mindfully. And that has meant dealing with a completely different set of uncertainties that have vastly improved my mindset since my last quarterly portrait (I mean, seriously, read it, whoa). There’s a gap in this weblog. I plan to fill it with “Retrospectives” that tell the tale of the last 83 days. Those will come out in the next few days, so if you’re reading this, stay tuned.

This quarter’s portrait also marked the first time that I wore a dress shirt in sixteen months. Sure, I put it on just for the photo, and sure, I was wearing shorts and immediately changed back into the t-shirt I was wearing after it was done. These days, such is life: a weird mix of what we want things to be, what they are, and what we are comfortable with.

And with the rise of the delta variant, “a weird mix of what we want things to be, what they are, and what we are comfortable with” seems to be a fitting description for what we’re about to face. So perhaps, partially dressing up to present an image to the world speaks to this moment better than I thought it would.

Only time will tell.