January 15

My husband and I have a NYE tradition which has lent itself perfectly to COVID isolation - we buy some fancy meats and cheeses and make a big charcuterie board in the early evening, nap on the couch for a bit, and then make a FANCY steak dinner. This year we've learned way more in the kitchen, so he made a bearnaise sauce, I made sauteed ruby red chard in the leftover steak fat, and parmesan red potatoes rounded out the meal. It. Was. AMAZING. And then we watched Anderson Cooper get giggly drunk in an empty Times Square while the ball dropped at midnight. 

And I cried. On the dot, at midnight - well, 11pm our time but you get the idea. Watching an empty New York celebrate with a few guests and random mask wearing people, it just hit all over again just how fucked this past year has been.

I'm living through one of those world-altering events that will be written about for centuries to come - if this planet doesn't implode first. 

But you know what? I made it through, and there's the tiniest hint of a light at the end of the tunnel. I've gotten both doses of my vaccine, our hospital has finally stopped elective surgeries so we're not holding 30 COVID patients in the ER every night, my immediate family has managed to either avoid COVID or remain thankfully minimally symptomatic, and my husband and I are making the most of the forced lack of social activities to save our money, educate ourselves on a variety of important life skills, and renovate parts of our house so we don't lose our minds. I also signed up for online tele-therapy, and have my first session in a couple of days - as much as I appreciate the five of you who still read this blog allowing me to brain dump on a regular basis, it seems like it will be more productive for me to brain dump onto a professional brain dumpee. 

My indoor plants are growing, although I'm still fighting fungus gnats on a regular basis. I just ordered a ton of seeds and started to plan out a spring garden, which I am very excited about. I got a fancy little brass planter with a built in light for Christmas, and I think that'll be my seed starter spot for this year. It holds 24 egg carton pieces, so it'll be perfect. 

In my personal life, everything is coming up Millhouse. As to the rest of things...COVID isn't going away any time soon. Our hospital bought a little time by cancelling elective surgeries, but we're still on track for being overwhelmed. We've got refrigerator morgue trucks as backup, extra travelers coming in, and our ICU staff are tripled most nights. Our ER is getting training on a bunch of ICU stuff, like certain paralytics/sedation, vent care, etc - because our other backup plan is to convert a section of the ER to ICU holds. So, not comforting. But, hopefully, one day this will pass. One day.