Left to my own devices

Before the pandemic, before the dark times, I'd get a cold about once or twice a year. It was pretty normal, hence the term "the common cold." Heck, maybe it was sometimes a case of the flu? Maybe...  though I get the flu shot on annual basis which, granted, isn't foolproof, but does seem to help either stave-off getting it, or at least make the symptoms less severe. Sound familiar? Anyway, I haven't really had a cold (or the flu) in at least two years, probably longer. No doubt a big reason for this is because I've been fortunate enough to work at a job where 1) most of my work can be done remotely, and 2) my employer has been very cautious, and had us working from home for all but three months since the pandemic got underway in earnest, back in March of 2020. Reduced contact with people has very likely lessened my exposure to viruses, whether it be COVID-19 or the ones that cause the cold or flu.

I felt somewhat numb a year ago today, watching live video from Washington DC, a horde of angry protesters storming the Capitol. As I saw the swarm breaking through barricades and ascending walls, I remember thinking, "They're going to get into the building. This is really happening." And then I got distracted. It was the middle of a work day. It was busy. A call was coming in, or some or other issue had arisen, I don't remember. The window was minimized, and I'd check back on it later. Later would prove to come along in a few minutes. The horde was breaking windows. They were getting into the Capitol. Reports were saying that certification of the Electoral College vote had been suspended amidst the chaos. Of course it had. That was the point of the exercise. It was what an aggrieved president, in the twilight of his first term, had been bleating on about to the crowds who had gathered to hear him speak that day. Our nation's lawmakers -- Democrats and Republ

We like to compartmentalize things. It's easier for us to group together a series of events under convenient umbrellas of designation, often times related to time. You see it done a lot when it comes to decades. People of a certain age will often get dreamy-eyed when referring to "the '80s" -- something I admit to doing -- though, if we're being honest, we've simply taken a disparate clump of years and made a connection to them because of a happenstance of calendar . Does it make sense? Sure, maybe, I don't know, why not? I'm talking about years and time and how we view them because 365 days have gone by, and we've ticked over into another year. 2022. I suppose that holds significance because of the aforementioned calendar that we're on, though one could argue that 365 days pass every day (except, maybe, on a leap year, though that's debatable), and so January 1st is really no different than August 1st, weather patterns notwithstanding. Bu