Can COVID save a marriage?
I am dusting off this blog after an 8-year hiatus. So much has happened in my life, career and relationships, including aging nearly a decade. Perhaps the most shaping influence of late has been living through a once-in-a-generation pandemic and the way the last 16 months has reset my priorities, needs, and expectations of myself and the folx around me. I've realized that I can do with a lot less. Frankly, I've worn the same 5 tops for most of the past year, paired with shorts or joggers, and flip flops most days. The shoes and clothes in my closet have been ignored -- they're too fussy, constricting, wrinkly, unnecessary -- and I just can't be bothered. Having a closetful of clothes, not to mention several seasonal boxes in the attic, seems frivolous and out of touch with what is important in the day-to-day pandemic life I've grown accustomed to. With my classes moved online, my teaching style shifted, and I became more acutely aware of the challenges my students...