We recently moved my office upstairs. I was hesitant to do that and fought the move for a little while, roughly 15 years or so. Hey, when you’ve got a Y-Chromosome, 15 years is mere seconds when you’re procrastinating. It’s true the downstairs office was dark and grungy, but the bats loved it and I knew I’d miss my little friends. I also dreaded dragging the furniture and computer equipment up those fourteen steps. The furniture weight was roughly equivalent to a basketful of lead bricks and, since my wife is laid up with a broken foot, it was all on me. Also, my ability with computer hardware is as lacking as my ability to act as nurse for my ailing wife. The prospect of disconnecting the 62 wires I’ve got connected to my desktop computer and then reconnecting them to the correct ports was daunting and terrifying.

So the day arrived and… it wasn’t that bad. I only whacked my head once and then so gently that it didn’t release the vacuum I have stored up there. The furniture came apart gracefully enough and came back together easily enough. And I managed to get the computer reconnected properly on the first try! Okay, there’s been some glitches. Occasionally, it says to me, “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that,” before it tries to throw into the icy nothingness of outer space, but who among us hasn’t had that happen.

The end result has been most enjoyable. About 30 feet from my window is a bird feeder. We’ve got cardinals, blue jays, goldfinches, and assorted other flying beasts fighting over the grains we put out for them and occasionally I’ll throw in a grub worm or two so they can have some protein. The holly hocks are in bloom, soon to be followed by the day lilies and we’ve got an assortment of other flowers as well. I get so interested in what’s going on outside my window that occasionally I have to remind myself that I’m actually supposed to be doing something constructive.

I miss my little buddies, but on the bright side, my risk of rabies is diminished slightly. Sometimes change really is for the better.

Right now, I’m wishing I’d done this a decade ago.