I joined a couple months ago, and have already gifted someone after a post about hugs. :) Then I had to retreat into a cave for a while because my mother died in April and I've been dealing with grief, trauma, and PTSD ever since. I'm very lucky to be surrounded by friends and a support network that allows me to be gentle with myself, because right now I need time to heal.

When my company shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the transition to telework was seamless for me. I am a graphic designer, and my company is a global one with offices everywhere. I turned 50 in June 2020, and I got married in July 2020 ... yep, we're about to celebrate our first wedding anniversary on 21 July 2021!

It's strange to have two major milestones during a pandemic, but for some reason I also decided, after the simple wedding ceremony (an officiant, us, our bestie, and a photographer) to have gastric bypass surgery. I am now almost 100 pounds lighter: In October 2020 I was at 285; I now weigh 190-ish. So I'm getting used to my new body, and I'm getting used to life without my mother.

On 26 June I placed the ashes of both my parents in the ocean. For some reason that broke me. I don't understand why it impacted me so strongly, but here we are. I'm out of work for a little longer while I go through therapy, but I'm thankful, again, to have support. Meanwhile, I'm gardening a lot, cooking (and I love to cook what I grow), and concentrating on exercising to strengthen my core as I become more active in this new body.

I love cats, tea, cheese, Minecraft, cheesy horror movies, Studio Ghibli and similar anime, gardening, and Victorian ephemera. I really do enjoy sending care packages; several years ago, I volunteered for an organization that allowed me to send care packages to college students who were former foster kids, and thus didn't really have a home to go to over weekends and breaks. So I'd bake cookies and buy stuff to send them. They would send me notes on how they were doing in class, and that just made me happy.