2026, May 13 - It's Been A Few Days

 Dearest Charlie,

It’s been a few days, hasn’t it?

Not because anything huge has happened… just life. Work, rest, trying to stay ahead of things, trying not to spend money, trying not to let my knee or this pollen nonsense take me down completely.  The past few days have mostly been a cycle of work and coming home tired.

I’m settling into the job more now. Things don’t feel quite as foreign as they did those first couple of weeks. I’m learning names, routines, paperwork, who does what, and where things go. I still have moments where I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing… but apparently I’m hiding it fairly well.  So far, nobody has escorted me off the property. That feels promising.

The paycheck snafu finally worked itself out, thank goodness. For a minute there, I was sweating it pretty hard. It’s amazing how fast your stress level rises when money decides not to show up when it’s supposed to.  But it got handled.  And honestly, people here have been kinder than I expected.  That still surprises me a little.

I’m slowly getting more settled in the apartment too. It’s quiet here. Sometimes too quiet. But I’m getting used to it. I still haven’t fully unpacked everything. Part of me thinks I’m still mentally living out of hotel rooms. 

The weather continues to confuse me daily.  One minute snow flurries… the next minute sunshine… then rain… then wind that feels like it came directly from the Arctic.  I don’t even question it anymore. I just look outside and say, “Alrighty then.”

I haven’t done much exploring lately because my knee and the pollen have both been acting ugly. So instead, I’ve mostly stayed in, watched movies, rested, and tried to recover a little.

Exciting stuff, I know.

I did finally cook a few real meals though, so at least I’m no longer surviving entirely on ham sandwiches and chips. I made some beef tips with green beans which I ate on for 3 days.  Then I made a bacon, chicken, ranch casserole and will eat on that for 3 days.  So, that's progress!

I still miss you all the time. Especially in the evenings when everything gets quiet and there’s nobody here to tell about the little details of the day. That’s probably what I miss the most sometimes- the sharing of ordinary life.  Talking with you and hearing your voice and about your day also.

Anyway…

That’s the update from this side.

Love and miss you muchly,

Me