The Appreciateur: Liker of Stuff and Things

Early morning text

Waking with a smile to chat

Starting the day right

Coffee and Cooler Temps

It is a beautiful morning sitting outside at 66 degrees! I absolutely love how it feels. Its not stultifying hot and humid, which is normal for this time of year in South Carolina. It will get that way again for sure, but today, it is perfect!

This is the first full day of me being home for 3+ weeks before my next trip for work. I’ll still be working, just from home.

It will be time with just me and my kid to hang out and do things together. Definitely a nice change of pace from constanly being on the road! 😄

Another morning and I am feeling like my usual self! I took a COVID test first thing and it is completely negative….not even the faint hit of a line like yesterday still had.

Now i can get back to the business of being Sean. Maybe a mountain bike ride. I haven’t been out on a trail ride in almost 3 weeks! It is definitely time to get back in the saddle and legs pumping.

I am only home for two more days before my next work trip, which will only be 6 days this time. Then I’ll be home for 3+ weeks.

Today though, it is time to enjoy not feeling sick!!

Still have the COVID Ick. Not a fan. Now it is just annoying because I feel fine but I’m still contagious and need to isolate. Well, this does give me many hours to plot and plan for upcoming adventures! And there will be adventures! Not entirely sure what kind of adventures, or where, or solo or with others, or when…..but there will be adventures!! Until then, I’ll just dream while sitting in my COVID cocoon.

Still battling COVID, sort of. I feel so much better with no fever or aches/pains, and very little congestion, but I still have the ick and still contagious.

So, it is continued isolation for me to protect the other people in this home. Staying in the house isn’t that much of an issue for me, but staying in only my room does get a little claustrophobic after a while. It’s not too bad over all though. I’ve got lots of things to read, two guitars to try and play with, an exercise bike,and of course the internet containing all of the beautiful madness of humanity!

At least I can go outside in the postage stamp back yard and find little friends on the fence!

I managed to make it home from Atlanta yesterday and now I am in self-quarantine/monk mode. Today is day four of COVID and I am feeling substantially better!

According to chatGPT (corroborated with other sources), I am through the Acute Illness, Peak/transition, and moving into the Improving phase. That is definitely how I feel!

Still, it is going to be time spent mostly in my bedroom so as not to infect others in the house, one of whom is supposed to travel internationally in two weeks!

I will probably get to read a lot and do a little work. I’ll be training on another project to work while I am home for three weeks coming up and I will also do some calls in preparation for my next trip after I get better.

So, it will still be relaxing….I think!

At the suggestion of a friend I went to the 24 hr. pharmacy and grabbed a COVID/Flu antigen test.

Luckily, I don’t have the flu. But I do have COVID! I’m actually surprised I don’t get sick more often with how many different people I come into contact with for work. So, now I am cutting the work trip short by a few days and heading home.

This seems to be about day two or three and I’m feeling super tired and worn down. Beyond that I’m OK for now. Hopefully, it will have mostly run it’s course by middle of next week as I’m supposed to be back on the road. I can’t afford to be sick for too long!!

Super sluggish this morning after only about 4 hours of sleep.

Last night I had a couple cups of decaf in the evening while facetiming with my kid. Staring at the ceiling at 2:30am I realized that it wasn’t actually decaf!

Easy mistake I guess…packaging was colored decaf green. Ugh.

So, this morning let us appreciate actually reading the labels before consuming!

Just another day starting off the right way.

I tried to sleep in a little but my body apparently thinks 5:30-6:00am is the time it needs to be awake. So, I get out of bed and get some coffee, morning reading, and then go for a walk in the predawn light.

This is the final day of a crazy number of hours overtime week. Unfortunately, both interviews that were scheduled canceled. So, now it will just be a day of driving around and trying to get in touch with people.

Hopefully the Saturday Atlanta traffic isn’t quite as brutal as it was during the week. I’ve already been through two audio books on this trip!

Major life transitions are weird.

When much of what was certain suddenly becomes more fluid and uncertain we find ourselves looking back for something more solid and grounding.

Lately I have been going down this path of the past and rediscovering much what was good is still there. I’ve been reaching out through social media and have been humbled and comforted by the responses, reactions, and caring of people from all of the various eras of my life.

The other day I reached out to an old friend on LinkedIn, the only place I could find where she’d been active recently. She called me back yesterday and we talked for almost two hours. It felt like no time had passed, even though we haven’t seen each other in person since 2004. Our last communication was a brief text exchange on Instagram in 2021.

We’ve known each other since the late 80’s. We even went to homecoming together in 1990. We’ve only been tangentially part of each other’s lives over the decades. Yet every time we do reconnect, it is like no time has passed.

This is who I am.

I am the once and future friend.

I’m the pal who you can call/message/email after six months, six years, or three decades. Do you need a conversation, a cup of coffee, a drink (non-alcoholic for me), a shoulder? I am that guy.

Once you are my friend, you’re always my friend.

Life may scatter us in different directions, but friendship with me doesn’t have an expiration date. It may be on pause for a few months or years, but it is still there.

Morning coffee and memories from the 1900s.

See the Constellation” has been stuck in my head for the last 24 hours!

Feeling nostalgic for the mid 90s. This was a great show In Cleveland in 1994… I think.

“Just a guy made of dots and lines…” youtu.be/sAlusliGv…

Starting the day right! Morning coffee and fresh air outside. Morning mile on the hotel treadmill rucking and reading. Now it is overnight oats and day 9 of the work trip. It has been a busy week and starting the day acive in mind and body definitely helps!

Morning hotel coffee and some fresh air.

Day 6 of the work trip, and it’s starting to feel like it.

Been 50 years old for 84 days. Proud father for 15 years. Been separated and single for 15 days. Almost married for 19 years.

She is still my best friend, and I want her dreams to be fulfilled. Our life paths are diverging now, and that’s hard. I’ve felt it coming for a long time, and I believe it will ultimately be better for both of us, but that doesn’t make it easier or any less painful in the moment.

Still here. Still standing.

I don’t know what’s next, but I’m headed there.