On this day 20 years ago, Pen-Elayne on the Web was born. As I always say when I trip over the cobblestones in Memory Lane, stuff was different then. We had a venal Republican president to contend with who'd spent too much time undoing the good of his predecessor and racking up debt whilst lying us into war, but that happens just about every time a Republican was elected. My dad and my best friend were both still alive. I didn't yet know I had diabetes, I was to find that out about half a year later. I don't even think I went on meds for at least a few years after that, and the a-fib incident was probably first. And I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot more things that were different then but, as I believe I've mentioned a number of times, my memory is notoriously spotty, which of course is one of the reasons I have a blog in the first place, to serve (along with friends and family) as my supplementary memory.
This year I want to talk about something I've been considering a lot these past couple of years, particularly now that the world seems to have lost its collective mind and decided, all evidence to the contrary, that we are no longer in a pandemic. I'm not that keen about contracting this disease, and for me FOMO isn't Fear Of Missing Out (as all my friends travel the world or go to conventions or even take in movies and concerts and restaurants) as much as it is Fear Of Microscopic Organisms. I'm a homebody to begin with and detest going out in hot weather so I haven't felt that affected the past few months, but now the weather will start to change and I'll have to re-evaluate how I feel.
And so I'm learning how to Scale Back Expectations, even as lucky as we've been not to come down with the COVID. At the moment, possibly because it's been so hot, a walk around the block exhausts me, which it didn't a year ago. I haven't made my daily two miles on the exercise bike consistently due to various body aches as well. When I know I'm going on any sort of trip I usually brace up both knees and the left foot, just in case. I tire more easily in general, and I've started realizing that I can't necessarily do more than one thing in one trip. I still have grand and glorious plans in my head, I want to travel safely again (masked) in the autumn and maybe even see friends once more, but the body doesn't necessarily want to follow. So my watchword has been to maintain.
And I'm maintaining the blog, years after so many others have abandoned theirs. It's my memory hole, it's my constant tribute to Leah (my late best friend), it's my joy. It's yeah, mostly silly sites, and occasionally the daily content is back-dated, but it's still chugging on, as am I, and that makes me happy. Thanks again to the few of you who are still reading.
2 comments:
I agree that too many of the Powers That Are have chosen to ignore the fact that this Pandemic is still in progress. Having not "missed out" - as I would've preferred to do - and gotten away with what I believe to be mild consequences so far due to the vaccination programs, I don't want to risk a reinfection. Nor, for that matter, do I want to be the one who incidentally gave someone else their introduction to either long COVID or to the cemetery. There are additional reasons that you already know of from our more private discussions.
Grateful that Pen-Elayne continues!
Congratulations on your blogiversary! One more year and the blog will be able to celebrate with adult beverages! While we may not agree on much, I appreciate your efforts and am happy you’ve reached this milestone. I look forward to congratulating you again in 20 more years on your 40th blogiversary in 2042!
Post a Comment