WRAL: Back to Work

I took this pic in the car just before I walked through downtown Raleigh in heels to get to my first in-person client meeting in two years.

Stephanie Llorente, owner of Restored, is a regular contributor to the WRAL-TV Go Ask Mom blog where she writes about relevant topics for working moms. We repost that content here.

I feel like I had my first day of work today. I should have taken a picture with one of those signs we all use with our kids that said, “Stephanie’s First Day of Work – January 2022.” But it wasn’t my first day. Far from it, actually. My first day was 17 years ago (I’ll pause so you can do the math on my age…). It only felt like my first day because it was my first in-person client meeting in what felt like forever.

For the past six years – yes, well before the pandemic began – I’ve worked solely from home. And, like many of you, I’ve worked virtually from home for the past two years. No in-person client meetings. No commute. No dressy clothes. No makeup. No small talk. Just log into the Zoom meeting, get down to business, log off. Repeat.

But, today? Well, today I turned a corner.