We're Almost Home
Friday February 19, 2021 | Filed under:
One year ago, after two decades, I said farewell to my beloved home and gardens in Princeton for a new condo life in a walkable downtown I had discovered in Newtown, Pennsylvania, a short drive away. It had checked off my must haves.
While everything was moved and unpacked in short order, like most new construction it was 90% finished with an important 10% remaining. Just another month, I told myself.
Little did I know, since none of us knew, that the world was about to change. March 17 was my last day in the office because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and I found myself isolated, flying solo and in a strange space in a town I didn’t know.
Friends were a blessing, and Zoom and Teams and all the rest. Who would have believed how resilient we are as humans, able to lift and shift our lives like a software service being brutally moved to Azur or AWS.
For those first few months, I was comfortable but not comforted, living in a space more like an all-inclusive tiny resort than a home, with replicas of my furniture and belongings. No vivid memories in the space to remind me that sometime life would be back to normal with friends and a shared life.
But eventually my own new normal set in, especially as spring and summer dawned and bike rides and walks and carefully orchestrated outdoor dining rendezvous materialized.
So, a year later, here I am: No regrets on the exit, no regrets on the condo selection and final buildout (which isn’t quite final even today) and no regrets on my business and life decisions to focus on health and safety for myself, my friends and the 450 colleagues whose work lives are my responsibility.
My only regret is the lack of a big, old-fashioned housewarming. Which I promise myself is on the summer vaccination-sanctioned activity list.
Stay safe. We’re almost home.
