Well hey there.
By now you have read all about Rob and his pancakes, and presumably know why you read about Rob and his pancakes, so I will save you the long winded intro and jump right in. I’m Sam and I am the new Development and Partnerships Associate here at AFF and I am in charge of making our partners and donors feel loved. Is it working?
My time in quarantine has been interesting to say the least. I moved out of San Francisco on February 17 – Austin, my new home, was shut down on March 24 – giving me roughly one month, while working, to get my life in order. To put it delicately, I was not successful in that quest.
Despite my self-proclamation as handy, which I still wholeheartedly believe, a new dining room table sits in a large box in my living room and my lamp sits in the trunk of my car. None of my artwork has been hung yet and my armchair sits on the ground with the legs not yet affixed. Among the boxes, you will also find a rather large TV still in its original packaging that does not look half as good as it did on the showroom floor. I would love to put it up on the wall, trust me, but trying to mount a 55 inch TV by myself sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. The last thing hospitals need right now is my dumb a** coming in with a broken face because I wanted to watch The Handmaid’s Tale on the big screen…
All in all, I would not call this my shining moment.
Rather than obsessing over the fact that I couldn’t build the table myself, and waking up each morning with contempt for the box collecting dust in my living room, which would undoubtedly happen, I retreated to my Aunt and Uncle’s house. Let me just say, this is what quarantine should look like. I am surrounded by family, doggies and little people. I work outside in the courtyard as often as I can and spend my off hours cuddling up with big dogs and/or babies. It is also worth noting that I am not sitting at home alone staring at walls, making friends with shadows on my walls, which would definitely push me over the edge into full-blown crazy territory.
Over the last week, I also added a little pupper to the family named Leo. He is 7-weeks old, sleeps all hours of the day, stays up all night, and warms my icy heart, despite chewing everything I love. He is the epitome of quarantine and chill with a side of destruction. Given the current atmosphere, I would say he is right on theme.
Though it was a rocky start, I would say things turned out quite alright. If I may impart any wisdom in these ramblings it is this: rest easy, if things don’t work out like you planned, you’ll always have pancakes that should have been bread…
-Sam Stanich, Development & Partnerships
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