Reflections on 2020

I think I can speak for everyone when I say that 2020 has been a very odd year. 

Yet, I can say that, despite all that we are going through with COVID and political unrest in this country and the world, I have had a very good year. 

Work - thankfully, my employer, being a commercial printer, was considered an "Essential Business" by both the USPS and the US Government, so we did not close our doors. Yes, we had to do some belt-tightening. But we stayed open, and even gained new business as other printers were forced to shut their doors. And the program I manage, while it slowed down in the spring as the first COVID wave hit, surged in the summer, and had it not been for the COVID spring, the program would have enjoyed a healthy increase in revenue over 2019. 

Health - despite the surge (particularly this late fall/early winter surge) my immediate family has not been touched by COVID. The closest family member that did have COVID was one of my sisters-in-law. Thankfully she was not so ill that it required hospitalization, but she's had a long and slow recovery. And  more importantly, my wife (a nurse manager at a local Kaiser hospital) has, even with all the co-workers of hers that contracted COVID and brief exposure to patients, she has NOT caught it. We were recently tested and both came up negative. We take precautions, though, and do not take this for granted. 

Home - perhaps the most taxing thing for me in 2020 was the sale of the Garden Grove home that my family lived in for over 20 years. It started in April as I began the process of doing minor upgrades to the place, and after two months we were able to list the property. But two cancelled escrows, then an over 90-day long escrow ensued, pushed my patience and endurance. Finally, in early November, the escrow closed. While the transition to my wife's home was a task unto itself, for me, the sale of the house also marked what I considered to be the final step in the end of my marriage, even though my ex and I divorced in 2016.

A New Life - yes, I have started a new and wonderful life with Brenda. We married Memorial Day weekend. Audrey joined us, and is very happy in the new home. We had a wonderful Christmas with Brenda's daughter and her girlfriend coming down from Seattle. I find that every day I am grateful for this wonderful woman, for the joy she brings in my life, and the constant showering of love that I receive from her on a daily basis. 

I am indeed a lucky man. 

Happy New Year.