My last day with my team at work. No fanfare or long goodbyes; that’s the deal when your colleagues are scattered across the globe and no one works in the same office. And the flip side is that we can always video conference online anytime. I first joined the company in February 2019, and what a blessing they’ve been compared with the toxic people I quit at Amazon in 2018. Looking ahead with excitement and a dash of anxiety about learning a new program area at the same company and changing career ladders to a program manager. It feels like I should have been at this level 20 years ago; by now I should be the department director. That’s the deal when you play around at being more or less self-employed for 25 years, bouncing from thing to thing. And the flip side is that there’s a certain amount of pleasure—to say nothing of adventure—when you make the decision to lead life on your terms in your 20s and 30s. Not complaining, just interesting that as I near retirement age, it feels like my career is where it should have been in my late 30s.

The house was buzzing with contractors again: plumbers, decking guys, and builders completing the basement punch list. On the one hand I’m so ready to have my house back; on the other, it’s been kinda nice having company around all these months that I would normally be on my own working from home.

For the third time this week I went for a walk in my happy place; lots of babies around the farm park. Hubby wanted a treat for supper and dessert: “Pizza and chocolate and cookies and cakes and ice cream,” I was instructed during his daily call from work. We settled for a bucket of fried chicken, which one of the groceries in these parts does a fine job of, plus ice cream and carrot cake. “Where’s the cookies and chocolate?” I was asked. Diet starts tomorrow. We ate the junk while watching the Season 4 opener of “Yellowstone,” which one of my sisters had a bit part in, getting to work with Kevin Costner, including actually touching his body. Couldn’t resist taking pictures of her from the TV. Was totally fun seeing her on the big screen—she even had a line. Next stop, starring role in a major Hollywood production.