Looking back, then looking ahead

 The year that was

In January, things started off on a really down note.  Charlie's health had started declining in the last couple months of 2019, and in January, the day before Amanda flew to Singapore, we made the difficult, but correct decision, to put the sweet boy down.  After Amanda came home, she had some sniffles and lost her voice (Covid?) that went around the house, but we didn't think a whole lot of it.

Sometime in March, we got the order to work from home.  The project I was on got deferred (it would get deferred a couple more times after I got pulled from it).  More and more projects got deferred, and we heard nothing from upper management.  

That was, until October, when we got word that there would be 1,900 layoffs in the US, 425 from the company I worked for.  That set of a month and a half of a very panicked atmosphere.  Then, December 2nd, Amanda learned that she was getting laid off, and December 3rd, I learned that my employment fate would be the same as hers.

Not the ideal way to end the year, but I was able to score one offer before the calendar rolled over, which is a nice security blanket.

The year(s) to come - Goal Setting

Obviously, I don't know when the pandemic will end, although a vaccine is in the beginning stages of circulation.  And with the recent forced career pivot, I don't know which part of the country we will be in, so all of these are somewhat subject to change, although I think they are achievable.

Running

I was able to finish a half marathon (not well) near the end of 2019 before the world spun off its axis.  At a minimum, I would like to repeat that success.  Ideally, I would be able to finish a marathon.

I'm not so worried about having it be an organized event.  And clearly, I need to do something to fix my hips, but I've been working on that inconsistently.  But I'm not starting at zero like I had been before, so I think it's an attainable goal.

Swimming

With pools closing for such a long time earlier this year, swimming went away for a long time this year.  I'm starting to get back in the water, but I'm starting from close to zero.  When/if we have to move, then everything gets thrown into further turmoil on that front.

But, with the situational caveats, I would like to get in a long, ideally 20ish mileish, current-neutral swim.  3RMS would be a good candidate for this, especially if we do end up back in the Midwest.  I would like to build into a 2022 Catalina Channel swim.

Other

Man, I just don't know.  Clearly I could be healthier than I am, both physically and mentally, but we'll see how well I'm able to tackle those.