Continuing from this thread:
Thanks to @mc-hamster confirming my need for the following drivers on my MacOS operating system (Mojave), I successfully flashed my Meshtastic to the most recent version using ESPHome Flasher 1.2.0 (suggested by IZ1IVA) --has thusly restored my faith in my own soldering skills in the process.
Happy to be one of the cool kids. Now all I need is my Android phone(s) and 3D printer to arrive.