The Importance of Connection

So in this time of COVID when we are now going to be asked to continue to hunker down and stay in for the holidays, it is even more important than ever to connect with other people. And it is even more important to someone like myself who is not a natural at doing that in the first place. I am a loner at heart and I am very comfortable not having anyone around. Still I do realize that with Johnnie with me at least 3-4 days a week and the people at work, I have just enough social interaction that I am not a total hermit.  And when I do interact those I am around think I am totally social. An extrovert even. Boy do I have them fooled! Case in point, the FRB Birthday party today, which would probably be the last time we're all going to see each other before the holidays. That IS sad, considering how big a deal my company and my peer at work make out of the holidays. And to tell you the truth, it is the only Holiday connection ritual I keep up really. And so just hanging out with them for about an hour even just on Zoom sharing some laughs was a very good thing. It was good to see them laughing too. Hey, the only way we all get through this COVID thing is together right? All in all that was a pretty good get-together that the Finance team put together, and especially led by Greg who loves playing emcee at these things anyway. It was without a doubt, the highlight of the workday. A workday that didn't start for me until pretty late actually, because I chose to start my Friday not like any other. Usually I'd get up really early and try to book a tee time appointment for NEXT Sunday, but because of COVID restrictions, I won't be doing that for at least a couple of weeks. 

And so when i did get up early I ended up immediately watching the new Mandalorian episode! YES! It had gotten so exciting last week with the introduction of Jedi Ahsoka Tano, not to mention the showcased fighting skills of Diana Inosanto, daugher of guro Dan Inosanto! A double treat if you were a geek like me. And today's episode gave us EVEN MORE with the re-introduction of Boba Fett back in the Star Wars Universe in this particular Mandalorian episode. This episode had sooo many exciting things... Mandalorians taking out an entire battalion of storm troopers. And when the Empire battle cruiser destroyed Mando's ship the Razor Crest I almost gasped! i mean how could his ship be destroyed? How is he going to ferry little YOda anymore? Speaking of which, the Little One did manage to activate the Seeing Stone which meant he got to reach out to a Jedi somewhere? Who will heed his call? Especially now that he has been captured by Mof Gideon and he is succumbing to his dark side?! Man oh man it's getting SO EXCITING! I can't wait until next week's episode! Now you see my loner side? Heh heh heh! Anyway watching this got me started way later than normal with my routine. As in I didn't take a shower until it was almost 10 AM and by then I actually got a mile walk in and a round of Nitric Oxide Dump exercises. So it wasn't like I lazed around for the morning. In fact, the only time I lazed around was going to Coffee Bean to pick up a hazelnut drink and a lemon load in time for my FRB Birthday meeting. It was all good otherwise.

And so the final piece of today's trifecta activity was a call from Lisa. As if to underscore the need for connection, in this case, hers more so than mine, she called so I could watch Johnnie while she practiced piano for her lesson tomorrow. It was not at all out of the ordinary actually, as I actually have dinner with Lisa and Johnnie on Fridays at least a couple of times a month. Just that I was more aware of the need for connection today. And I was more appreciative that this Friday night thing was not just me looking after Johnnie. After all, if worse comes to worse, Lisa CAN actually practice piano while Johnnie was left to himself... he has gotten that independent already. With Lisa it is always more about socializing than anything. It's about cooking together, and talking and sharing our days. Funny, stuff that we should have been doing a lot more of when we were married. I don't think I remember ever cooking together much in all those years. Certainly not as much as we do now. Tonight I did the tri-tip steak and she did the salad, and I did the green beans and she did the rice and squash. And a fine meal it turned out to be. So much so I had to post the picture of how it turned out. We had plenty of food. And Lisa must have been hungry because she ate up her portion easily. Of course I ended up cleaning up afterwards, even while Lisa decided she was going to use her dishwasher today. And then she played her piano and me and Johnnie ended up watching an hour's worth of ABCMouse actually. A win-win-win for all. AND I got an invite for breakfast tomorrow... as long as I bring eggs, and bacon, and sausage LOL LOL. Happy to do it. I made a stop at Ralphs before going home tonight. We're good to go. And it turned out today was a very good day.