It never serves me well to sit down for a writing session with absolutely no idea of what I want to write, but this afternoon has been particularly aimless. I have completely finished my coffee, sorted through all of the random writing files in my OneDrive whose mysterious titles are some form of “Document [insert numbers 1 – 21 here]”, jumped around my blog to see if I feel like changing the layout, and made my way through 90% of a playlist I have called Vauxhall 2019 that means nothing to anyone but me, for whom it is a time machine that transports me instantly to my commute from Mortlake to Central London from January 2019 through August of that same year. Truly, nothing has been achieved.  

After spending a final ten minutes on formerglory.ie, my latest favorite website for daydreaming (it specializes in posting period properties in Ireland, the focus of most of my daydreams since its the EU country that remains to us without having to learn another language), I figured I might as well just open a blank Word document and see where it takes me. 

Last time I wrote I decided I should find a new writing project, and while I am nowhere near finding such a project, I still think this a good idea. I was vaguely hoping to be inspired by one of those Document Number Whatever files, only to be disappointed by many of them (SO MANY OF THEM) not being short-lived creative projects, but rather derelict cover letters. Does anyone else ever pause to think how many cover letters they have written in their life? How many minutes they have surrendered to this most mundane, useless, and modern exercise in time-wasting? A chronic career-jumper, fluent in the professional pivot, this is a life statistic I don’t know that I’d actually ever want to see. It goes without saying that the files did not provide even the slightest bit of encouragement in the writing department.  

I think I will keep today short and sweet, much like the entire month of February was. February was so fast that it didn’t even make it to the whiteboard calendar we keep on our fridge – just this morning I wiped off January and replaced it with March. February has my birthday and our wedding anniversary, and this year, it also included a trip to South Carolina, just over ten days of a brutal cold, and as it always does, four fewer days than most other months. So, sorry February. You passed in such a blur that according to our Frigidaire, you never happened. Don’t take it personally. 

What I will say is that it was a February full of wins, despite its brevity. That trip to South Carolina at the beginning of the month was not for fun reasons. In fact, it was for a memorial of a close life friend of Aaron’s. But it was in many ways, exactly what we needed after the tumultuous six months we have had. One of those four-day spreads where you are somehow able to step completely away from your day-to-day, to literally leave the clouds behind you and experience sun and the warmth of genuine people, the reality of grief but the joy of a life that was very much worth celebrating.  

The world remains very much on fire. I won’t lie about that. But I have been lucky enough in my immediate surroundings to see and touch and experience some real joy these past few weeks. Also, did you know we have a cat named Kevin? His existence has somehow escaped posting since his arrival back in late August, so you will have to just trust when I say he is a meow-based goober that while troublesome at times, has become the Bobby Boucher to my Kathy Bates. He is no small part of the laughter that has been experienced this month. 

Okay, folks. That will have to do. Thanks for sticking around for the long posts, the short posts, and the meandering, vaguely useless ones. Life is a funny little thing, but we do what we can.