2021 Year End

It’s time again to reflect on another year – and another year that was…. Just like last year, I’ll let you finish that sentence. 2021 sure was a rollercoaster ride of Covid ups and downs that we all hoped would have been resolved months ago. I had my own ups and downs as the continued Covid restrictions wore down my energy levels a bit and I found it tougher to stay motivated for bike rides and workouts. Though as I’ve written before, I always feel better and energized after a ride or workout.

Some of the good things from this year started with a return to semi-normalcy as Covid waned for a while. That meant staking my claim to a bar stool at our local brewery - https://www.ashtonbrewing.com/ - and becoming a regular there again. My wife commented that 3 other couples we’ve become friends with are there a lot, then she realized that meant so were we. We both got a good chuckle out of that one. Having Thanksgiving again at our home with family and friends was another bright spot. A lot of work, but great to have everyone together again. For my birthday, my wife treated me to a 4-brewery tour. A fun time visiting new NJ breweries and trying different beers. We even ran into one of the couples mentioned above at the first brewery we stopped at. They are on a quest to visit every brewery in NJ – a very worthy goal!

My brain has been getting exercise working with the Productively Funny team - https://www.productivelyfunny.com/ - but we’ve been stalled as companies are still focused on how to handle Covid and are not yet thinking about training. We’re ready when they are!

Thanks to continued flight from urban areas to the suburbs, my wife’s business - http://www.ready-set-stage.com/ - is still booming. No seasonal slowdown this year and that is something we are very thankful for. She took a break though so we could head to south Jersey for a couple of days to celebrate her birthday. Being able to feel comfortable traveling a bit is yet another thing to be thankful for after being locked down for so many months into early this year.

Of course there is now the uncertainty of what lies ahead with the advent of Omicron – conveniently surfacing right after Thanksgiving. We’ve got our “get the hell out of NJ in February” trip scheduled and are hopeful that Covid craziness won’t impact it. I’ve got a feeling stronger mandates are coming right after New Year’s though – can’t get in the way of all the money to be made over the holidays. Not taking sides here, just stating what’s in my brain.

There’s also the uncertainty of what future weather will look like. Ida swept in and crushed our part of NJ with flooding never seen before in many areas, and far worse inland than Sandy’s flooding. We can debate the causes all we want, but climate change is real and we need to be prepared for the impact. Although if that means a warmer winter with equivalent rain instead of snow, I’m OK with it.

The biggest craziness of the year has been the continued politization and polarization of EVERTHING. The Left and Right are both so far out that those of us in the middle majority are being bulldozed by minorities on each side pushing their radical agendas that seem more about pacifying their bases and maintaining power than doing what’s right for our country. No preaching here, just a call to action to be active, be informed, and vote.

With Christmas and New Year’s coming I am looking forward to spending time celebrating with family and friends. Being able to be together for these holidays makes them special and I hope you are able to do the same. For those of you who celebrated Chanukah, I hope you were able to be with family and friends and had a wonderful holiday.

As you can see from the above, it’s been an up and down year, leaving me a little less positive than I was last year. I’m still trying to be positive and focus on the good stuff going on around me and the fun stuff I am able to do in retirement, but the cynical curmudgeon wins on some days. I’m working hard on feeding the ducks and starving the geese (see 12/6 post)! And that is the key to surviving in this new era. We each have to decide to focus on the positives. To repeat a quote from a Christmas card I saw last year “Be the joy you want to see in the world”.

I’ll leave you and 2021 with that thought and a wish for a happy, healthy, and successful new year for all of us and our planet.

I’m taking the next 2 weeks off so look for my next post around January 10th, 2022.