It has been nearly two years since I have written a blog post! TWO YEARS! If you’re asking “Why?” I will blame it on COVID. Okay, that’s not true. Truth is I have been lazy, distracted, wasting time on social media, and, quite frankly, telling myself that I have nothing of value to upload to the cloud. Seriously, there are several billion other idiots posting content, ensuring that several generations to come will have insight into our collective stupidity. But at the end of the day, writing is cathartic for me. So if there is nothing of value for you in these paragraphs, I am still sitting here listening to classical music and enjoying the catharsis.

Since it’s been two years since I have added to this blog, how about I start with a brief overview of the happenings in my life? (By the way, don’t expect this to be in chronological order; my brain doesn’t work that way!)

• The pandemic is still here.
  • Does this fact piss anyone else off? Ugh! I mean, seriously, the last time I posted content here I thought by that fall we would be beyond this crap!
• I have been trying to learn how to lead at work through constant changes in protocol and policy.
  • That said, I am blessed with a great group of people around me. They make this challenge easier.
• My father got remarried.
  • Donna is a genuine, nice, and supportive woman. It has been great having her in our family.
• My father died a year ago yesterday. (Just a few weeks after his wedding.)
  • And for several months following that, I had to handle his estate and sell my childhood home.
• We got a second dog.
  • He’s lovable and cute, but he ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed! 🙂
• My youngest graduated high school.
  • Now both of my girls are in the process of their higher education pursuits…and I could not be more proud!
• My brother and his fiancé were supposed to have been married over a year ago. But due to the pandemic, and a huge dose of discombobulated bureaucracy, the immigration process to bring her here from Costa Rica has been filled with devastating delays.
  • (Those of you that pray, please pray that the process finishes soon. It may happen in the next few weeks!)

I’m sure there is more, but those are the highlights. The past two years have been filled with some major challenges as wells as some beautiful reminders of how wonderful life is. I have written before about the coexistence of sorrow and joy and the past couple of years have borne this out in my life. Yes, we all go through seasons that seem to be nothing but terrible. Conversely, we go through seasons that seem to be extraordinarily positive. But more often than not, I believe, life’s journey finds us somewhere along the continuum where the good commingles with the bad.

I guess that’s where life finds me today, smack dab in the middle of that continuum. Yes, this latest COVID variant melee and the changes in policy and practices that have resulted have found me searching a bit harder for the good amidst the bad. But, honestly, it truly is okay. My family is happy and healthy, my faith is strong, my friendships are solid, and my male pattern baldness is not proceeding any more rapidly than it was a couple years ago. (The grays, on the other hand…)

In between the checkmarks on the to-do list today, I stopped at my favorite coffee shop. (Global Coffee Co. in St. Johns, MI. Check it out!) When I read the quote of the week, it reminded me of how my thoughts can focus on the bad…and how my “bad” may be the place that another is praying for. I guess I have a tendency to take things for granted at times, pushing me off balance toward the “bad” side the aforementioned continuum.

So take stock today, friends. Can you find at least a little nugget of good in the midst of the daily struggle? If not, that too is okay for a season. You don’t have to “fake it ’til you make it” or “focus on the positive” when positive things simply can’t be found at the moment; doing so can be quite guilt inducing. But please remember, good things coexist with the bad things…it’s just that one or the other is easier to see at times.

Who knows, maybe I will try to write a bit more often, now. Dunno…no promises! 🙂

Be well, and stay healthy…

P.S. If you have a story to tell and would like to join Jim Ladiski Writes as a guest blogger, please contact me!