Better in 2024: September

 

And just like that, we've arrived at the end of September -- and the final Monday in September to boot, which means it's time to check in on my One Little Word and to join in on the link party hosted so graciously every month by Carolyn.

I spent a lot of time this past weekend thinking about Better and how it's appeared in my life over the past month. And then I started thinking back to September of last year and comparing it to September of this month. I think we all hope that each new year will be better in than the last, but just looking at this one month in 2023 versus 2024, I see a lot of ways that things are Better for me. Not that it really would take that much -- you may remember that I finally caught COVID last September and was testing positive for a full two weeks. That meant that I was isolating for half the month. That would be bad enough, but this time overlapped with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, last year, and so I missed out on services and the holiday meal with the extended family. I remember having myself a little pity party and baking challah to go with the individual portions of food my mother packaged up and sent over for me. This year, however, I baked three batches of challah -- six loaves total -- over this past weekend, and I'll get to enjoy it in the company of family and friends on Wednesday night.

I also missed out on the Great Race last year, the first time I'd missed it since I started running (they even did a virtual race in 2020), and I felt sad about it every time I wore last year's shirt. But this year I was back at it, this time with Molly participating as well, and I think I may have gotten my fastest time ever at 27:14.

It was a crummy day, raining the whole time, but I felt strong and relaxed the whole way through. I started out just behind the 9-minute-mile pacers and eventually passed and stayed in front of them. And it was great to have Molly out there with us for the first time. One of her school friends ran with her most of the way, but they got separated at some point and her friend (who plays soccer, so is used to running) finished before her and we all waited for Molly to come to the finish line. She crossed in less than 40 minutes, which is quite impressive given that she has only recently started running. It's a great feeling to do something that makes you feel good and to be able to do it with the people you love most.

Her face looks like mine, but her legs are all her father's!

You know what else has gotten Better this month? My job! As of this week, I am officially an exempt employee again, meaning my job classification has been corrected (and I've essentially gotten a promotion), and, what's more, the union vote results were announced late last week and both professional and nonprofessional employees voted overwhelmingly to join the United Steelworkers! The next step is electing our bargaining committee to negotiate with the university (and no, I will not be seeking to join that committee!).

The timing off all this feels rather appropriate, even though some of the more frustrating things have taken much longer than I wanted them to. After all, in the Jewish calendar, we're wrapping up the books on the current year and getting ready to start the chapter on the new one -- and certainly I have the highest hopes that the new year will be even Better than this one.