Groundhog's Day 2021 - in lieu of a Christmas letter

 

February 2021 

Happy Groundhog’s Day! It seems like the most appropriate holiday to commemorate 2020, since the days just replicate each other. Thank you to everyone who sent Christmas/Holiday cards. I didn’t expect many this year, but there’s enough to cover the kitchen wall, and it makes me smile every day. 

I volunteered for Second Harvest early in the shutdown, and we ran out of food with at least 50 people in line. The abrupt, exponentially rising poverty combined with tepid online education and the brutal effects of isolation prompted my open objection to California’s handling of the crisis. What our leaders are doing to my home state is heartbreaking. 

So, I went through 200lbs of flour therapy-baking and sent cakes and cookies to teachers, and small business owners and employees. And kept volunteering. And inviting people to my backyard. Drops in a big bucket. 

For the most part, we’re all doing what you’re doing… life Covid style. 

Skyler’s now a senior at UCCS. He worked at an adolescent psychiatric hospital at the beginning of the shutdown, which gave him a place to go when all his classes went online. It inspired him to switch to pre-med, which means he’ll be a super senior next year. CO is more open than CA, so he’s been able to continue rock climbing and practicing with his a cappella group. We see less and less of him, so we try to plan appealing adventures to tempt him to visit or join us. It might help if we remodeled his room instead of using it for extra office space and storage. 

Liam was a freshman at St. John’s in Queens last March. Two days after he returned from spring break, the campus shut down and stayed that way. It was July before the school packed up his dorm and shipped his things to us. The reset was good for him, and he took a job as a Starbucks barista, signed up for classes at Foothill College, and built a home gym with some friends. He’s hoping to transfer to a university on the west coast when they open back up in person. It’s convenient having an onsite coffee expert, and he’s also polishing his skills as a short order cook. Too bad his dishwashing skills are not on a similar trajectory. 

Horseback riding was never canceled since it’s “taking care of a pet,” so, Hadley has basically lived at Webb Ranch. It mitigates the loneliness of online school. Unfortunately, Sunny was diagnosed with an incurable hoof condition early summer, so she can only compete on borrowed horses. It’s odd applying for colleges when you can’t visit them, but she’s got a handful of acceptances already and is hoping for more. Ideally outside of CA in a smaller town, with an equestrian facility nearby. 

Tracy and Lockheed are still getting along, and he had his Technical Fellow designation renewed which means he gets lots of “Tracy, can you fix this?” calls. It’s not that different from being at home, except he gets paid. With fencing centers shutdown, he’s focused on cycling, tennis, and house projects, most notably a monarch nursery and turning our backyard firepit into a social distance hangout complete with party lights and a rotating disco ball. 

Workday sent us home in March, and I haven’t been back onsite since. Even working remotely, my team is great and so is the work. I miss the salad bar, but I’ll trade it for spending my 90 minute commute on the tennis court or in the kitchen. We took advantage of empty roads and national parks (notched eight of them), and took a dozen little road, camping, and backpacking trips to places in CA we always wanted to visit - Lassen, Death Valley, Trinity Alps, etc. To escape the CA lockdowns, we defected to CO several times, spent Thanksgiving in Maui and the last week of December in Florida. We revived our scuba skills, and learned that diving in five-foot swells is as tough as the guide who tried to talk us out of it actually said it would be. 

I’m not introverted enough to cope well with a shutdown. I can’t wait to sing at a concert, go to lunch at a crowded restaurant, and high five my tennis partner. It feels like we’re all a little edgy, raw, and feral right now, but hopefully 2021 will be better. If you’re in the area, my firepit is your firepit. Pop-ins always welcome. Again, thank you for being part of our village. I can’t wait to see you again. 

Much love, Julie, Tracy, Skyler, Liam, and Hadley

Sunny the horse

Panda, Brocklean, and Tatertot the cats

Yukie the bunny (who is 9 years old and we suspect he is a zombie)