It’s been a whole handful of minutes.

Moment of honesty – I didn’t flip back through whatever the last post was on KataNerd, I just jumped into writing a new one while sitting at a bar and feeling like I should be doing something productive.

Y’know, that feeling all of us get at bars.

So I pulled out my COMPUTER (which is always with me, and has made appearances in SO many bars, coffee shops, restaurants, couches, and airports across the world) and start tippy-tapping away while Dad-Rock plays in the background.

What a time to be alive.

Right now, you’re reading the finished product. It’s all smooth and shiny and, if I don’t say so myself, rather nice. But, the part you didn’t see are the metaphorical doodles I made in the margins of this post whilst trying to figure out why I should be writing anything at all (It consists of me writing really weird sentences and then deleting them while making a face at my computer like it’s smelly.). If that’s not enough flim-flamming, I wrote half of this post in one go. Then, I closed the computer and went and got distracted with other stuff.

For 6 months.

And now I’m in an airport, with no soundtrack and still wondering what the hell it is I’m supposed to be doing.

And maybe that’s what this one is about.

Here goes.

The older I get, the more I realize that time is fleeting. Like, I lose whole months in what feels like an eye blink, and it tweaks me out.
Example: I thought it was September YESTERDAY, February seemed to last several years, and now it’s almost August.

Somehow.

It’s the weirdest bit of relativity I’ve found yet, and I haven’t even been paying all that much attention.

All this to say:
This past year has been a doozy. It feels, alternatively, like 3 lifetimes or a fever dream on a weird Sunday. And we still have a lot of ‘year’ left. The events keep on happening, and by doing so, just grind me down into a smaller and more weathered version of myself.

This year started off with a few heavy punches right off the bell.

And then continued with the heavy punches, completely ignoring the bell.

But there has been one consistent part throughout all of this – y’know, other than the consistent and repetitive strikes to emotional fortitude, bank accounts, and the whole “joie de vivre.”

The people surrounding me.

Throughout the craziest highs and the weirdest lows, I seem to have the most amazing support system of humans who bring me coffee, ask if I’ve had food, and generally check in as I careen through this whole ongoing storm of events, chaos, and tension.

It’s incredible and something I will probably never really understand, but am ever so thankful for. Throughout the hardest and most stressful parts of life, I have friends who send memes, an incredible partner who asks if I just need cuddles (and makes AMAZING food), and a team that shows up every time I need them.

This was going to be funny. It was going to be witty, and I had a whole plan when I started writing this 6 months ago. But then the world hit hard, and I completely forgot about it. But YOU all were there and made me laugh, brought me coffee, and helped me remember that the real point of it all is to enjoy the scenery as we go.

So, thanks.

I’m working on bringing KataNerd back. Posting more, writing more, and generally doing that “art” thing more.

Buckle up.