Thank you for waiting.

Did you know that on New Year’s Eve 1994, the good people of Kiribati moved their clocks forward by 15 hours, creating a brand new time zone? The International Date Line was redrawn in the South Pacific, swerving around the tiny nation’s islands. Finally, everyone in Kiribati worked to the same time.

Just like Kiribati, a special time zone exists around me. It’s called Jenah Standard Time (JST), and its divergence from the meridian is quite unpredictable.

JST’s flexibility is part of its spurious charm. Sometimes it’s 15 minutes early, often it’s at least 10 minutes late, and very rarely, it’s in harmony with the rest of the world.

JST is a pain. I know it is. Some of you have been waiting for a lot longer than 10 minutes. Even this blog has waited for two-and-a-half years!

But you have waited, with patience, compassion, and unyielding kindness. You know and I know that I’m not myself right now. I haven’t been for a while. And while I take tiny steps to get back in sync with the loud, opinionated, hilarious, very cool, extremely fashionable, and faultlessly modest person I am at my best, I know that you’ll still wait for me. What I don’t know is why or how I am so blessed to have you.

So, this is a massive thank you. For accepting every version of me.