Friday, July 9, 2021

What I Learned (Or Relearned) During the Pandemic

I thought long and hard before I decided to post this.  The final reason was a Zoom presentation I did. 

What the pandemic taught me most of all.  I can without a doubt say I am a theatre actor, not a TV star.  I like a live audience. I feed off an audience. I can change my presentation style based on the reactions I see from an audience. 

During the Zoom presentation, I could see no reaction.  No feelings in the air. It was very challenging.

My mother was right, I am an actor and I usually excel with an audience.

What else did I learn? Yes, I love my family. However, I also enjoy spending time with them.  My wife is extremely intelligent, notices small things, and very thoughtful toward others.  Oh, and she is an outstanding cook.

My daughter is funny, never forgets anything, has the greatest facial expressions, can do a monologue on several interesting subjects for 15 or more minutes. These monologues are educational and structured.  She can be quite sarcastic and very stubborn.  I wonder where she gets that from.

My son is a joy on facetime. He has an infectious laugh and his voice is getting deeper (or is it a setting on his iPhone?).  He also has a winning eye roll, as in “you cannot be serious!!”  He also walks around his home with his phone talking to you. One time we were in a pocket as we talked; he was at the gym working out.  We could hear every word and he could hear us. Hmmm, perhaps a good short story, “A Day in James’ Pocket”. Nahhhh, limited audience.

In my job, I deeply appreciate working around others.  Working from home is okay, but I miss an office environment.  Just the hum of conversations, copiers running, walking around saying hi, etc. I just miss it.  And finally, two more appreciations – I cherish a finely crafted and formatted email; and people who leave a voice message and repeat their name and phone number. 

I know, you are thinking “gee George, what took you so long?”.  I always knew it, I just got an excellent reminder of how fortunate I am.  

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