It’s such a luxury to have a well-stocked kitchen, isn’t it?

It’s a joy to be able to walk in and prepare virtually anything in my normal repertoire of snacks and meals. I’ve got baby carrots, minced garlic, poblano peppers, my favorite brand of peanut butter (Teddie), and on down the list.

All I have to do to create this result is go to the grocery store, buy the stuff, and bring it home.

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You can tell the people who are really super into Instagram by how they display their story highlights on their profile.

Instead of little round thumbnails showing auto-generated images from the videos and photos they’ve shared in their stories, these folks feature brand collateral in the tiny circles: their signature colors and typefaces, custom illustrations, and so on. They’re sending a strong signal that they are devoted to the platform and to thorough branding.

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I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve given up on creative work.

First of all, actually sitting down to do the creative work was rare enough. The list of prerequisites was long: tidy office and home, emails answered, bills paid, routine tasks accomplished. I may as well have been Cinderella trying to go to the ball, simultaneously playing the role of my own evil stepmother.

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I haven’t knit or crocheted anything since December.

This isn’t particularly noteworthy except when you consider that I spent dozens of hours per week doing fiber crafts in October and November, completing a cowl, two sweaters and most of a third, multiple washcloths and dish towels, a Christmas ornament, some mittens, a hat, a vest, a doily, a lace trivet, and a market bag.

In short, I was devoted, and then I just stopped.

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I will never forget the night I realized that the pandemic was going to ruin life as we knew it.

It was March 16, 2020. Having made the decision on that notorious Friday the 13th that we would bring our two Atlanta schools online, my team and I had successfully done it. I had just completed a series of exhausting Zoom meetings when my husband got the word that his apprenticeship program, which had closed for the day as a precaution, would be closed all week.

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