I blog you

Hiiiii again.  More than a few of you have asked whether I'm going to keep blogging now that I'm back in the UAE.

When I started this blog in 2016 it was a practical way to keep everyone we love up to date as we moved from Washington state to Dubai. At the onset it was mostly a logistical decision; I didn't want to have the same conversation 15 times with 15 different people (I lazy). But Dubai was difficult in surprising ways and writing also became an important emotional and creative outlet for me. It was fun to share the pieces of our life with you and to hear back from you in the various forms of in person, digital, and text communication. In some ways, I think it brought us even closer to you than before.

But when I moved back to Washington in 2017 things got very meh. I didn't have the energy and rarely the inspiration so writing took a back seat and I focused on other things like Phoebe, and work, and gardening. I could have used the emotional and creative outlet just as much, but I just didn't have it in me.

And now I've been back in the UAE for ~6 weeks and it's been really, really great. The transition has been much easier (more on that later) and the "yay we're together again" glow is still firmly in place. But I just haven't felt like writing and I wasn't sure I'd ever get back to it. If you had asked me last week:

But a few days ago, Steven and I lost someone very close to our hearts. And in all the memories, and sadness, and lost opportunities swirling around I remembered why I started this blog to begin with:
to share
to connect
to be close in mind and heart even though we are far in distance
to love.

I had forgotten, but I remember now.

Recharging

Oh hi there.  I'm still alive, just recharging.

Phoebe and I moved back to the UAE about 3 weeks ago and all is well. We're all adjusting to our new normal (again) and so far it's going a lot better/easier/smoother than last time. I think we're all just so happy to be together again that it's hard to let the 'meh' get us down. Sure, there are weird/crazy/omg-wtf-is-this/annoying things happening - but that's life, right?

But enough of my "everything is great and we're so happy" post. Here's my dramatic glamour shot of Phoebe in the Kirkland WA backyard just before we left. It's probably the only thing we're really missing. And by "we" I mean Phoebe but she makes her feelings quite clear (everyday, multiple times a day) so we're feeling the pain too.

But on the bright side this hotel house is ginormous enough that we play indoor fetch everyday and Phoebe has too many beds and couches to pick from. Although I suspect her favorite thing is the increased square footage for spreading toy fluff. Apparently this is especially awesome right after housekeeping has come by.

So Phoebe's learning the upside of living here, too.

t - 36 hours = HELP ME

So we're in crunch time for our move happening at the end of this week and a bit (i.e. super) behind.

The plan was to finish up work today (a few hours), then go home and pack pack pack for 36 hours before my dad and the movers arrive.  By Wednesday night, everything would be packed and the moving truck would be on it's way to storage.

There isn't really enough time if you do it normally but our plan was to sleep a few hours, pack a bunch, sleep a few more hours, pack a bunch more -- until we're done.  Not a fun 36 hours, but doable.

And then at 7PM tonight MY DAD SHOWED UP AN ENTIRE DAY EARLY....WHILE WE WERE SLEEPING.

And so now my Dad and Steve are shooting the shit.  We need to be sleeping or packing, but instead we are siting on the couch talking about mail.

507 Days

...And just like that it's been 507 days since Sven and I started to live 1/2 a world apart.

Lately: The Psychology of Packing

...is not something I have figured out.

It's silly considering how many times I've done it (about 20x since leaving home at 18). But I just can't seem to make myself pack right now, even though I really want to avoid a fiasco like last time.

So this is how I spent my weekend:

 

Yep, that's right.  I didn't want to pack so badly that I WORKED OUT instead.

The 12 stages of inbox acceptance

One of the most difficult things about my new (started a year ago) job has been the massive number of emails.  For the last 10 years (ish), I have been a stickler about my work emails - a clean inbox and carefully filed archives.  But that's basically impossible at the new job: it's a never-ending onslaught.

A(n almost) year later, this is what I've learned.

Stage 1: 
All my friends and new coworkers warned me about the volume and told me my best bet would be extreme prioritization and not doing/seeing/covering everything. But it was the beginning and my optimism ran (too) high.

Stage 2: 
A couple months later the job was in full swing and I started to understand what everyone meant.

Stage 3: 
DENIAL. This cannot be right.

Stage 4: 
Negotiation with email senders to just IM/call/meet/anything instead of email.

Stage 5: 
No one listened to my desperate pleas and I am overrun and overwhelmed. And the better I got at my job, the more emails I got. I felt hunted (or maybe haunted).

Stage 6: 
It worsened and my inbox reached horrific heights: tens of thousands of un-filed emails even though I spent long hours every day reading them all. Instead of addressing the inbox itself, I decided to change my perspective...just not quite yet.

Stage 7: 
Vacation = procrastination = temporary bliss.

Stage 8: 
I returned from vacation to find THOUSANDS of unread emails.

Stage 9: 
My fresh-from-vacation delusion convinces me I should clean up my act/inbox with some really hard work.  It feels pretty damn good when it's finally clean.

Stage 10: 
It lasts less than 2 weeks, but I keep trying. I spend countless hours over the course of 3 months re-cleaning it. I end up resenting everyone who Replies All with meaningless shit...a lot.

Stage 11: 
After several months and countless hours of failing at this, I finally gave up. I decided it's just not worth feeding my mental/emotional need for a well groomed inbox. It's added to the list of "let that shit go."

Stage 12: 
A full 10 months after starting my job, I have finally accepted my crazy inbox.

I even relish it a little.

The end.

And Back Again

It's decided.  Phoebe and I are moving back to the UAE in early June. We've set the plans in motion and are counting down the days.