Hope you peeps are doing well. I can't quite say why I've been so MIA lately (outside of my one Christmas update) but it's probably just a combination of being busy with Baby Harris, COVID-life stress leading to an overall poor mental state, deaths in the family, work craziness/starting a new job, and figuring out our lives after deciding that we're moving back to Chicago....
Baby Harris aka Eloise: Before little E came along and people said that having kids was the best thing ever and they're so great, life will never be the same, blah blah blah, I would just think yeah, right, "these people are all just exaggerating and saying that their kid is the best. I'm sure it's nice and all but this is all kind of corny, it can't be that great." Then I had a kid. And after even just two months it's awesome. Not all roses all the time, especially when you spend hours at night trying to put a fussy baby down or when you get woken up at 3am randomly, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I probably said this before but I just can't imagine a world without little E in it. But overall she's doing great, my wife is doing great and we're loving and soaking up every little bit of time that we have with her. Also she's kind of a beast compared to these French babies. 13lbs after two months. We should probably cut down on her steady diet of bread and cheese.
COVID BS: Not sure if any of you follow what's going on in France but on November 1 we went into full-on lockdown mode for a month. No going out except for food or exercise/walks. That ended on December 1 but since then we've been on strict curfew of 6pm every night. We spend so much time inside a tiny apartment that it's just draining. If you miss the morning window of going out (which lots of times I do because I'm helping with the baby) and then miss a proper lunch break because those don't really exist when working from home, you're pretty much f'd. Before you know it 6pm rolls around and there is no going outside for any reason. Luckily we have Eloise to keep us busy and play with and I will likely look back on these times and be thankful that I was able to spend all of these moments with her. But I would kill to be able to go for a run after work again.
I know it won't be forever but the mental state is just poor at the moment. I'm glad we were able to make it back to US in December but we really only did see my in-laws. My parents are in Arizona and due to increased French travel restrictions put in place a couple of weeks ago, our trip to go to the US again in March to see them won't be possible. They've luckily gotten the vaccine as they're high risk but they can't go to France and we cannot leave France. They probably won't be able to meet Eloise at all until she's 9 months old when we move back....
COVID (and non-COVID) Super BS: Throughout most of this pandemic we had been incredibly lucky to have avoided much tragedy in our lives and so I absolutely understand that the above COVID rant is nothing in comparison to what others have experienced. In the the span of a month, however, between November and December my wife and I lost three grandparents to both COVID and non-COVID related issues. Just as it will stick with me forever the moment that Elosie was born, it will stick with me just as much to be calling my grandmother to say goodbye from the French maternité just three days afterwards. She couldn't hear me because she was on a ventilator but the nurses and front-line workers around the world are all amazing people and the ones taking care of her while she was alone in the hospital made it possible for our family to tell her how much we love her as none of us could be with her. My wife also lost both of her grandfathers around this time, one more expected and one more sudden. Christmas was, to say the least, a bit less festive this year, but we were all glad to have each other around this time.
Work and U-S-A: in mid-November, just after one of my wife's grandfathers had passed, and a couple of weeks before Eloise was born, our Global COO emailed me out of the blue and asked if I had a moment to catch up. It hadn't been announced yet but there was a bit of a re-org happening (including our current CEO retiring) and he needed a new right-hand person to come and work for him. Would basically be moving away from day-to-day real estate investment work that I do now to global strategy and operations. And he would eventually need me back in Chicago where he is located.
Now I can't exactly say what we would have decided if we were living in a non-COVID environment. But with a combination of all of the above, plus wanting Eloise to get to know her own grandparents and see them more than once per year, and not knowing how many opportunities we would have actually move back to the US with job in hand, we decided that we should say au revoir to our time in France. There were so many pros and cons that we could have debated for ages, and honestly if I was able to do the job remotely from our French office forever we might have chosen that route. But Chicago is a great place too and we'll be glad to be going back.
So I started this new position on 1/1 while still working my old job through mid-March (pitfalls of internal transfers). And we will be moving back to Chicago in September of this year. I think that's it.
.
.
.
Where is running during all of this, you ask? Ha well my friends, that is a great question. This time last year I was in the best shape of my life and had just put in months of work for an upcoming marathon. This year....not so much. It'll come around but just slowly as I've lost most of my gains from last year. I've been trying to do something (either running or cycling) once a week and bought some dumbbells for those weeknights when we are locked inside.
BUT, what I have also realized over the past months is that I missed being part of this group. You guys are all awesome and motivation in itself with all that you do and I'm looking forward to being part of the group in real time vs. catching up in giant chunks as I have been. And also perhaps some proper real-life hangs once we're back in the States for good. Basically, what I'm trying to say is, Happy Valentine's Day, love yall
Also, if you made it this far you deserve a prize....maybe a foot massage from tri-man.