As I start writing this piece in the middle of my first week back at work, I’m the *only* one in the house who’s back to work, because, for the first time in a couple of years, the RVA metro has been hit with what they call a “major” winter storm in these parts, which for those of us here just south of the city, meant not quite three inches since Sunday night (which my giant delicate flower of a dog, who’d never seen it before does not like at all), and thankfully did not involve the power outages and water boil advisories my neighbors ten miles north are dealing with. Those here in the house engaged with the education sector have been off for three days so far due to wintry conditions, and although the federal site where my organization is headquartered was closed Monday and Tuesday, and delayed in opening on Wednesday, as I’m on an official telework agreement, snow days just aren’t a thing for me anymore.

I kind of miss that childlike excitement of learning about an unexpected day off, but the fuel and time savings I get the rest of the year kind of make up for it.

Nonetheless, for entirely other reasons, I am getting an unexpected day off this week, though it’s got nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with the passing of an honored humanitarian, our thirty-ninth President, James Earl Carter, Jr. Thursday has been designated a National Day of Mourning to remember and celebrate his life.

Although his administration in the early days of my life wasn’t what he’d hoped, he worked hard to do right by this country and the world before, during, and especially after his time in the White House, all while retaining a humble presence and attitude of quiet service. As I said to several friends in the days after his death, we probably didn’t deserve him, and he certainly didn’t deserve to see how this country turned away from his values of progressive service and equal opportunity over the past forty years, but until the end, he served and did what he could for his neighbors.

We can all learn something from that. If you’re reading this, I ask you to take a moment on Thursday to remember him, and consider how much better off we’d all be if everyone tried to be a little more like him.

To quote Vice President Harris speaking at the Capitol on Tuesday:

He lived his faith. He served the people and he left the world better than he found it. And in the end, Jimmy Carter’s work, and those works, speak for him — louder than any tribute we can offer.

It was nice to see the adults in the room emulate his example, especially the Vice President presiding over events, by gettings us through the January 6th certification of electors as a matter of Constitutionally-required routine rather than a cacophonous spectacle of drama, disrespect, and violence four years ago. As we head into the next sure-to-be-tumultuous four years, let’s not forget (in spite of all the gaslighting leading up to Monday’s certification from certain corners) how fragile our democratic principles are right now, maintain our republic, “if [we] can keep it.”