I’ve been thinking recently about my world since March 21, the day Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey told us to stay home. Perhaps the August heat has me in a reflective mood.
Along with so many of my qualitative colleagues, I’ve had to adjust and reinvent. These 4+ months have been a time like no other. All planned business and recreational travel got cancelled. We’ve lost some people we loved. Our adult daughter moved home (temporarily, she keeps reminding us) and we’ve only recently been able to visit our adult son. But, our lives have been altered profoundly in other ways as well.
Business for me has been good; I feel fortunate for that. Healthcare, which was always a big part of my practice, has been my dominant source of work. And, while I’d regularly conducted research online over the past decade, it’s now 100% of what I do. I haven’t yet talked with clients about resuming face-to-face research, but I imagine those conversations will come in due course.
Some other things worthy of note:
Life is just slower. I’ve been forced to relax more, something I’ve never been particularly good at. My dentist reports that I’m grinding my teeth less, so there’s that.
We’ve created grilled summer analogs of winter comfort foods. Let me know if you’d like to learn how to make Summer Lasagna, Summer Chicken Parmigiana, or Summer Moussaka.
We’ve also invented some lovely new cocktails, and are happy to share the recipes for Liquid Brunch and the Thai One On.
Because we can’t hang out in coffee shops – a favorite Rich family activity – I’ve finally learned to make decent coffee. As a result, I seem to be drinking a lot more of that glorious beverage.
Most importantly, I still adore my wife, and she still (for the most part) tolerates me.
So, how has your life changed? I’d love to hear about what’s different for you. Send me an email with some examples, and I might include them in an upcoming post. And if you’d like those summer recipes, just click the ‘Download’ button below for a PDF file of our culinary creations.