Bad weather: bugging out, working from home, and a weird birthday.

I am creating this blog to give family updates during the pandemic, or as my friend Shivam calls it, “the bad weather,” nomenclature I am adopting. First, a little background.

On March 12, 2020, I loaded work essentials into a banker’s box and left my corporate office. For how long? “Until terminated by Company” is the time frame set forth in my Telecommuting Agreement. Who would bind me to such uncertainty?

Me. I am general counsel for my employer. There was bad weather ahead, and no one knew when it would blow over. Times remain uncertain. So we are working from home until further notice.

But I am not home. We packed clothes, food and valuables, left the city, and drove to the farm where my wife grew up in Greene County, Tennessee. Life has a cast of six: my in-laws, Garry and Kit; my wife Jessie; my kids, Jacob (4) and Kate (2); and me. Those are my only personal contacts, save a couple of cashiers, since March 12.

Our first night on the farm showed signs of bad weather. Garry had a cough that woke me up. If his cough did not keep from sleeping, its mysterious source did. Was our sanctuary already the encampment of the damned?

Thankfully not. Garry is better now, and the rest of us feel healthy too. Perhaps we have avoided the bad weather.

Working from home has not changed my work. The pandemic has. Everything I do can be done anywhere there is Internet. But my job has some unexpected duties. I am spending a good deal of time time revising pandemic notices and policies. I was tasked to read the emergency legislation Congress passed, but because we have more than 500 employees, it is mostly inapplicable to us–strange that the new law does not apply to companies that seem best positioned to afford it. I also helped a non-citizen employee return to the U.S. during a travel ban. Interesting times.

My birthday was Wednesday, March 18. I worked all day and then enjoyed a birthday dinner on the farm with our little clan. Brownies and ice cream. Children singing. And a single celebratory flame, whose demise was accompanied by the most sincere wish. I have gifts waiting for me in other places, to be picked up when the bad weather subsides. I have forgotten most of my birthdays. Not this one.

The farm is a paradise for Jacob and Kate. Cows, chickens, horses, tractors, cats, dogs, and more wide open space than they can hope to explore. They have been walking with Diddy (Garry), helping Gaga (Kit) in the kitchen, “farming,” and playing with balls and on scooters and bikes. We play guitar and Jacob sings. Passionately. We are doing our best to educate them. They love Cosmic Kids Yoga and the Khan Academy for Kids app, which has a lot of learning games preschoolers enjoy. And Jacob reads books to us before bed.

Concluding with some photos from the farm below. Until next time, stay out of the bad weather.