reboot 

Tonia worked feverishly into the night to finish her report. It was due the next day, and she knew that the whole firm was anxious to see her results. This would be the report that finally earned her the promotion she deserved. 

For months, she put everything aside to get the report polished. Messages had piled up in her inbox, and most calls went unanswered. Texts were met with brutally short replies. She had neglected her relationships, both cherished and acquainted, to get this report done.

She’d convinced herself that she’d get to all of that, later. 

Tonia neared completion, when suddenly, her computer failed. Voracious malware, running in the background, had overtaken her machine and sent it into gridlock.

Complete and utter panic set in.

She knew she had a backup on the cloud, but all recent work was lost. Maddened, she attempted everything she could to get the machine to work once again—she searched online, and watched repair videos on her phone, but it was futile. 

Tonia sat down, nearly hyperventilating, and attempted to regain her composure. As nerves calmed, she accepted her reality. The computer was going to require a full system reboot, and that would take her well beyond the report’s deadline.

She initiated the reboot, which would take several hours to complete.

And in the downtime, she looked to her overflowing messages, and decided to sit down and take the time to connect.

-m 

June 4, 2020

Photo Credit: Niklas Hamann