2020 - The Year We All Stayed Home

 I usually write a year end blog on New Years Day.  I have been thinking about what I wanted to say about 2020.   I went back and reread my year end blogs from 2019, 2018, and 2017.   I noticed that each of those years I started out by saying this has not been one of my best years.  And I ended each blog saying I was sure the new year would be better.   This year I just don't know what to say.   So I think this photo taken in Meredith, New Hampshire is the best way to start.  What a long strange trip it's been.  

Last years blog said we were already planning travel for February 2020.   Well that didn't happen.  Mark did buy his new car in February.

 And we did take a road trip to Odessa, Delaware where we went to a restaurant for the last time without a mask.  Also with the new car we went to Woodland Beach, Delaware.  That's a place I had not been since I was five years old when my family rented a boat and went crabbing in the Delaware Bay.  The high lights of Woodland Beach were my photos of a lone house on the beach...

..and a nuclear reactor on the New Jersey shore across the Delaware Bay.  When I edited my photo of the reactor to a black and white image there was a spooky blue haze all around it like radiation coming out of it.   Oh 2020 this was just my first surprise of the year.

We started hoarding toilet paper, stocking up a two week supply of emergency groceries and hunting for masks to wear next.    While doing this we got the word from my daughter Danielle that she had been hired for a job in Boston,  She had been unemployed for most of 2019.   She and her wife ended up selling their house in Atlanta, packing up a rental van and moving to Boston right at the heart of the original quarantine.  List this under things to stress out Dad.  Just as Danielle was preparing to move my other daughter Katie was diagnosed with Crohn's disease.  She was hospitalized and of course we were not allowed to visit.   Another item to add to the list of  things to stress out Dad.   We did go the hospital parking lot and wave to Katie's window.  You can see Katie in the window above.   I will not be embarrassed to say I cried on the way home. 

So what is next to add to the list of things to stress out Dad.  After leaving the hospital Katie was told due to Covid and budgetary issues she was being let go from her job.  Perfect timing.  Just what a person with a major medical diagnosis needs.  No health insurance.  Lots of prayers were said.  That's one thing 2020 has done.  It has increased my prayer life triple fold.  And within a couple of weeks Katie was offered a temporary job in New Hampshire!  The company provided her with a beautiful log cabin on isolated dirt road with a view of  Mt Washington in her back yard.  

I was a bit concerned when she accepted the job.  The idea of her just being diagnosed with Crohn's disease and moving to an isolated cabin on a dirt road in New Hampshire was definitely another item on the things to stress out Dad list.  She had to drive up for an initial interview and introduction to the new company.   I did not want her to drive from Baltimore to Lancaster, New Hampshire by herself so I drove up with her.  We were booked into a resort that had been closed for twelve weeks.  We were one of a handful of guests there for opening weekend.  Other than one or two other people were were the only guests in a 180 room resort.  I will say in the midst of a world wide pandemic with quarantining all around this was a wonderful escape for three days.  

I wanted to be trendy and follow the big fashion statement of 2020, a Covid beard.  I had never grown a beard before and I have to admit I liked having one.  I still have it to start out the new year 2021.  Add this to the list of things to stress out your husband.

We were able to visit Katie in New Hampshire later this summer and also spend a day in Boston with Danielle and Andrea.  It was a bit tricky going to Boston.  Massachusetts had a ban on visitors from Maryland due to Covid that came with a healthy fine if you tried to spend the night there.  We did drive to Danielle's house and drove with her to see some of the sites in Boston but that was the best we could do under the circumstances.  

2020 continued to haunt us the rest of the year.  Everyone has been affected by 2020 no matter who they are.  It was no respecter of persons.  I had friends who died.  Friends who were very sick.  And our beloved dog Delilah died this year.  She was fourteen years old and had health issues.   We did get to take her to New Hampshire before she died and she loved the cabin and the huge fields around it.  She died November 8, 2020.   We had a vet come to the house and we said our goodbyes on the back deck of our house.   

We were lost without her and knew we wanted another dog to fill the void as soon as possible.  We found Tallulah just a few weeks later from a rescue site.  We drove to central Pennsylvania to pick her and bring her home.  

But 2020 was not finished with our home yet. Two days before Christmas Tallulah darted out of our house and was hit by a car.  We thought she was gone for good.   Once again many prayers were said and out faith was tested but she survived.   She had a dislodged shoulder and a multi fractured leg below the shoulder.  There was concern this 18 month old pup would have to have her leg amputated.  But as of New Years Day she is recuperating at home and her leg has been saved.   We will have eight weeks of recovery and hopefully the leg will heal properly.

As I said in the beginning "What A Long Strange Trip It's Been".   2020 is a year no one living now will ever forget.   This truly has been one of the worst years of our lives.   But my girls both have jobs.  They both had adventures moving to New England during the pandemic.  Mark's mother had Covid while in assisted living and recovered but sadly is fading from Alzheimer's every single day.  Our dog survived.   We have toilet paper.  And as a family we all have each other.  

What is my final image of 2020?  This about sums it up.  A dirty mask left on a table in Littleton, New Hampshire.  I'll this year here at the table.   

2019 - The good , the bad, and the ugly. Travel, breweries, and family issues

Each year on New Years Day I take time to reflect on the past year.   Some years are wonderful.  Some are uneventful.  And some I am just glad to see be over.   2019 was one of those years.   There were good moments.   And then there were some bad ones.   Nothing unusual about that.  But the bad ones seemed to be overwhelming this year.

Mark changed jobs twice this year.   The bank where he was employed was sold and he had to find a new job.  This was a bad situation that worked for the best.   He found a new job well before the bank finally closed so he was never really unemployed.   He phoned me from work one morning and said to me I start the new job in two weeks.   So lets plan a last minute trip before I start the new job.  I am never one to turn down a chance to travel.  Out of nowhere we decided to go to Milan.

I love Milan.  I had been to Milan once before in 2002.   But many people are unimpressed with Milan.  On my first trip even the woman at the ticket counter in the airport asked me "Why Milan?"  So I was bit concerned Mark might be unimpressed also.  But I had nothing to worry about.   Mark loved Milan as much or even more than I do. 

Mark chilling at a ristorante in the Galleria in Milan

We also had the chance to take a train to Bergamo while in Milan.

Beautiful Bergamo

Also on this trip I had the chance to return to my beloved Switzerland.  And any year I can visit Switzerland is a good year.  While in Milan we took a side trip to Lugano.  It was definitely Switzerland but it also had a very Italian feel to it.  It's right on the border of Switzerland and Italy.  There is just something about Switzerland that captures my spirit even if they are speaking Italian.

The beautiful Lugano Switzerland

Mark started his new job after we returned and it worked well for him.  But then out of nowhere he received another job offer.   The job had a good increase in salary and also was a much better commute for him.  So after just a few months he bid farewell to the new job and started his adventure to a job in our neighboring county.     And he really likes the job and everyone who is working there.  Even though I have said this was not a great year for us, work wise it's been a great year for Mark.

Because Mark was in a new job we were not able to travel this summer.  But don't feel bad for us.  We spent every weekend this summer visiting local breweries in the Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia area.   It was great fun.   We were entertained every weekend.  And we got to try both very good and some mediocre beers.  But even mediocre beer isn't all bad. 

RAR Brewery - Cambridge Maryland

The year was going well.   Mark was enjoying his second new job of the year.  My daughter Katie was hired for a new position with a large increase in salary.   And then the ball dropped.  My daughter Danielle was made redundant at her job.  She was completely unprepared.  She was given a small severance package.  And she remained unemployed the rest of the year.   Then to add fuel to fire her wife was let go from her job also at the end of year.  We are all hoping after the holidays are over they will be be able to find new jobs the first of 2020,

In November we were able to travel once more.   Our friend Gillian from Manchester, England joined us for a week in Hawaii.  It was Mark and my fourth trip to Hawaii.  And once more we were overwhelmed. 

December found us with two more problems.   My daughter had to have cervical surgery.  She had to have a disc replaced in her neck.   Then her boyfriend had emergency surgery two weeks before Christmas.    To top all of this, Danielle and her wife were unable to join us for Christmas due to their job situation.   We had a very uneventful Christmas missing Danielle and Andrea.  We spent the morning on our Iphones with face time opening presents together.

We lost some dear friends this year.   A beloved extended family member passed away on Christmas Day.   We lost family members in Mark's family. And we lost a beloved little dog named Kobi who has been a part of our family for fifteen years.  We have continued to watch Mark's Mom slowly fade away to the monster of Alzheimers.   But we still have so much to grateful for. And we have a lot to look forward to in 2020.  We are already planning some travel for February.  I am assured Danielle will find new employment.  I have a 50th high school reunion in mid 2020.   2020 you are the beginning of  a new decade.  We are counting on you to start of this decade better than the last one ended.