This is from my December newsletter. Here’s to a good 2021!

The year in review – a year like no other

I can honestly say that when I contemplated 2020 from this chair at this time last year, I could never have pictured what the year would be like. I was recently promoted, and so had ticked off that professional accomplishment and was looking forward to a new year with anticipation.

Thud.

I remember in early February when a co-worker came back from a trip to the UK and was god-awful sick for over a week (to the point where they went to the emergency room) and thinking nothing more of it. Now, of course, looking back I wonder if that person was an early victim of Covid-19. I am happy to say that co-worker is fine today. Others, of course, have not been so fortunate.

When my company went to working from home in mid-March, I could not have imagined that nine months later we would be entrenched in that situation with no return date planned. Even when we do return the office is unlikely to be as it was before. We have many options besides a simple return to daily commuting and it’s my understanding the office is exploring them all. For now, my dining room is my “office” workspace and like so many other things I am fortunate to have that ability.

As the world changed, I adapted—as so many of us did. There are plusses to this new “normal” (whatever normal is). I’ve filled up my gas tank three times in nine months whereas before I would fill it up every two weeks. I drive it so little I got a low-pressure warning on my tires. I’ve had to rediscover the city around me as I went from doing daily activities in Beverly Hills to doing them in the San Fernando Valley. Making and going to doctor appointments is easier as I don’t have to account for driving into work before or after (once we get past the testing, of course). I would trade all of these small “conveniences” to reinstate the lives that have been lost to us from this pandemic. Like so many of us I make the best of this situation and put one foot in front of each other—do the next indicated thing. That is all we can do.

I’ve heard from many of you over these last months and each one of us has our own story, whether in triumph or tragedy, of these incredible times.  No matter what happens in the future, we are all marked by 2020 the same way we were marked by 9/11 and other tragedies. It’s a turning point in my life, as it is in the lives of all of us. We are forever changed.