Wednesday, March 3, 2021

The Op Op Turns Twelve

Hi, folks, and happy anniversary to this blog! Twelve years of Opulent Opossumness! Through the magic of advance post scheduling, I’m able to write and publish this post, and have it go live automatically at 1 in the morning on March 3, 2021.

I’m actually composing this on January 2. I just edited the year in the line above, because (of course) I had typed in 2020. By the time this is live, hopefully that won’t be a problem anymore.

And hopefully, by the time this post goes live, a LOT of stuff won’t be such problems anymore . . . though realistically, I know that things won’t actually look more like “normal” until fall. Alas.

Why am I posting this so far ahead? Why not just type something on March 3? Because I always mean to write an anniversary post, and then something comes up and I forget it. In 2020, that “something” was the Coronavirus. No wonder I felt sidetracked.

Here’s what we were doing on March 3, 2020: Burning some random fallen branches in our firepit in our backyard. About a week before the Coronavirus started changing our lives.

And the year before that, on the tenth anniversary of the Op Op, I went around the yard and took pictures of my arugulas sprouting, my daffodils fixin’ to bloom, and my crocus blooming: in the snow.

As I write this, at 4:20 p.m. on January 2, it’s getting dark, and it’s snowing, big, fat flakes coming straight down, looking very pretty. I’m glad I don’t have to go outside for anything. Our life pattern has changed.

. . . Look, it’s not like anyone else is gonna take note of the Op Op’s anniversary. But I’m a little dismayed to realize that I missed the ten-year anniversary in 2019. Yeah! My first post was on March 3, 2009. Good grief! So it was an opportunity to say “cheers!” to myself, and I missed it! But then, forgetting it is no reason for me to chastise myself, either.

I could also chide myself for posting so infrequently of late that I pretty much missed an entire year of blogging, so the idea of counting years is problematic. However, here’s a little secret about blogging, or journaling, or keeping a diary, or whatever: just keep at it. If you falter and get sidetracked, who cares? It’s always there, waiting for you to pick it up and start recording again.

So, whatever: Twelve years!

Op-Op, Hooray!

2 comments:

Donna. W said...

It's always good to see a post from you, even if it isn't very often. However, you say you have a tendency to be depressed; I imagine like me, you were more depressed than usual during the last year: Pandemic, inflation, politics that has had me pulling my hair out for... oh, I'd say 8 or 9 years now. Beam me up, Scotty!

Julianna Schroeder said...

Thanks, Donna. It's been rather difficult, but I've had it much worse. I was blessed to be able to work with a skilled, talented, and downright kind therapist who helped me adjust my mind-set and mental habits into something healthy, fair, and sustainable. Every single day, I think of some nugget of wisdom she gave me (or rather, got through my thick head!), and I'm filled with gratitude.

As for the comment about not having posted much in the past year--since January, I've been rectifying that retroactively. I had several mostly-done and half-done posts that were simply awaiting completion and pictures. They were languishing on my computer, so I've been chipping away at them. I'm finishing and posting them retroactively (dating the posts about the time I would have published them, if I'd finished them before getting sidetracked). So you might see new posts if you scroll down into history...

As always, thanks for you comment. I appreciate it!

Julie