So I didn’t write a year in review post at the end of 2019 but I would hazard to guess that if I had, it wouldn’t have included nearly anything that actually happened this year. To say that 2020 was a year that no one expected would be the understatement of the world.
Retirement
The one thing that I got write was the fact that did in fact retire from the Army this year. As of Sept 1, 2020, CW4 Ward is no more. Of course very my actual retirement changed significantly from how I had imagined it would go. I had planned on working as a government employee, that hasn’t happened (need to write about that sometime soon). I had planned on still being in my first position 3 months into my retirement (I’m already on my 2nd job)
Sports
I love going to a baseball game (I love to go in person…hate watching it on TV), and watching football. I’ve done absolutely none of either of these. I obviously didn’t make it to any baseball games, and watching football just hasn’t seemed to be fun when they are pumping crowd noise into the stadium. Instead, I have discovered some new things. First, I’ve gotten really into UFC. UFC is one of the first sports that came back into action after the pandemic started. I caught it here and there and eventually broke down and got ESPN+ so I can watch it every weekend. But that is just the start. I’ve gotten into watching professional arm wrestling, as well as competition slapping. I have to admit, watching a big 250 lb Russian dude just slap the ever-living shit outta someone is really entertaining.
The one thing that I absolutely fell in love with though is marble racing. Early on in the pandemic, John Oliver did a feature on his Last Week Tonight about Jelle’s Marble Leauge. If you haven’t watched it, you HAVE TO! This group of guys out of Europe somewhere who somehow managed to make ruling marbles down a track exciting. Seriously, you have to check it out.
Always Learning
Being stuck in the house for the last 9 months or so suddenly gives you free time to do things you have been meaning to do for a while (unfortunately that hasn’t involved finishing the Pergo floors in my downstairs Livingroom much to my wife’s chagrin). I’ve spent a lot more time, learning Python. My new job has required me to pick up Ansible which has been kinda fun and a slightly different way of tackling a problem. I’ve read a lot more and been able to spend some time doing things for myself (which was very rare).
Family
I’ve gotten to spend a lot more time with my family than I honestly ever thought was possible. Between working from home a lot of the time and not being able to go anywhere, I’ve seen more of my wife and kids in the last 9 months or so than I have in years likely.
Early on, I thought that my wife and I would kill each other. Literally at no other point in the nearly 16 years of being married has we been around each other so much as we have this year. In all honesty, towards the start of it we came pretty damn close to killing each other, but we figured it out. Through it all though we’ve actually gotten a lot stronger and been able to spend a lot of quality time together which has been a nice change.
Next Year
What does next year look like? Honestly who the hell knows. In 19 days, we get a new president and hopefully America will go back to being a place that I can proudly call home. Not that I’ve ever not been proud do be American but the last 4 years have been a bit of shit show. It appears (knock on wood) that we have at least two working vacines and I suspect by late spring or early summer, life will start to move more towards normal (which is good because I have lots of concerts that got canceled and are scheduled for 2021).
I am starting a new position (same company, new contract) in three days where I will be back at Cyber Command doing much of what I was doing before I left (still a contractor).
Outside of that very week guess, I honestly have no idea what is going to happen. There is so much in life that is still up in the air that I don’t think we’ll really get back to normal for at least a year. Either way, here is to hoping that you survived 2020 and have a wonderful (or at least better) 2021.
Well said, Troy