While it’s been so refreshing to hang outside with friends on the weekends the past few weeks, I realized I still miss one thing like crazy: having somewhere to be and people to be with after work.
I love aspects of working from home. I really do. The flexibility to jog in the morning and still make it, showered, to my computer by 8 or 9 a.m. The ease of making lunch in my own kitchen and not having to prep meals. The softness of my sweatpants, which I wore almost every day before it started getting really hot out. The focus that comes from solitude.
But dang, these video calls and phone calls don’t do it for me when it comes to feeling socially fulfilled. It all makes me feel as connected as texting – which doesn’t do much. I miss rushing to the yoga studio for class and a chat with friends after work. I miss wine dates and dinners at restaurants. I miss being out with my people, instead of finishing work at home and staying at home.
But I’m not ready for dinners inside restaurants, or drinks inside wine bars (I actually have yet to go to a wine bar patio again; soon). And I’m absolutely not ready to be exhaling and sweating among a bunch of people doing the same inside a yoga studio; not that studios have opened yet.
I miss that feeling of being somewhere fresh. I miss the act of going somewhere else. I changed it up this week to shake up that stagnant, stuck feeling.
Monday: I drove 30 minutes to pick up Viva Chicken takeout (god, I was craving those sauces) and bring it to my parents’ house. My mom is still at the beach but I missed seeing my dad, so we hung out on the patio and had dinner and drinks. We talked for two hours. It was so relaxing.
Tuesday/Wednesday: I drove Maisie to Shamrock Park, a couple of miles from my house. It’s a little, woodsy loop that’s completely shaded and takes her about 20 minutes to trudge around in the heat. Which is perfect for her big, fluffy body in this 90-degree weather. Other neighbors were out walking their dogs, too. It feels good just to wave to other human beings and take in some nature.
Thursday: I drove the couple of miles to Plaza Midwood and parked my car there so I could run around that neighborhood and Elizabeth. It gets kind of monotonous jogging up and down and around the same streets and loops all the time. It was invigorating to make that small switch to my morning run. And there are so many other joggers moving around that neighborhood – it’s motivating.
Friday: Rémy invited me to come have lunch with him outside of his office. It’s something we never really do because we’re both pretty busy with work and I have to clock eight hours a day, so lunch breaks put us both behind a bit. But we didn’t have any plans after work (what a shock!) so I brought some leftovers, seltzers and Maisie to his office. It was lovely – sitting and chatting with a skyline view, then taking Maisie for a walk around the adjacent neighborhood. It reminded me I’d like to do that more, visit Rémy during the week. We could use more lunch dates.
I’d like to do all of this more. Have more walking adventures at parks and on trails with the dog. Bring dinner to my parents and catch up. See my husband during the day, rather than just at night after work. And I’d like to make more of a point again of just going. Going anywhere.
