2020
What a difference a year makes!!
2020 came in complete with designer masks and lots of cancellations! Gone were my book clubs and meeting at the local coffee shop to knit. Gone was any involvement in church activities, the cancellation of the Navarre cousin’s reunion and meeting up with friends. The summer months eased up the confinement with all the outdoor activities but here we are in December with not so many choices. I have managed to keep on moving, thanks to a high school classmate that moved back into the area.
We have taken up walking at least 3 times a week. She is a God send!! I managed to continue yoga throughout the spring and summer months which took place outside and now am down to two days a week with class sizes ranging from one to four of us doing downward facing dogs. I did yoga YouTube videos when the first lockdown occurred but that can get old fast!!
Mike is done, done, done, with work in Lakeside! Mike will now be able to focus on the care of only one yard… ours! This kind of work is in his blood and he enjoys it. He needs to slow down and actually smell the roses which we don’t have but I guess he could smell the azaleas, or the impatiens!
In October, I flew out (I know, risky!) to visit Jim and his wife, Sarah in New Mexico. Just wanted to visit my older brother. We had a really great time together! Did not have to quarantine and sat alone on the plane.
Chris is doing well although most of the community activities that he attends have been cancelled. Some great news… Chris has gone from weighing 278. down to 225. It has been quite the effort with help from many people and agencies. He is with us four days a week and three days at his home in Milan.
There has been ONE good thing that has come out of this virus for us……both Derek and Ryan went remote with their jobs and on June 30th, Derek and his wife, Erin, decided to move back to Ohio from San Francisco. They bought a house in Lakewood and we are now a little over an hour away from them. Actually, there were TWO good things to come out of this virus…. Derek and Erin are expecting in February and we will now be first time grandparents (finally)! Oh, and by the way there is a THIRD good thing to come out of this virus……Ryan and his wife, Annie, are house hunting in the Columbus area and when we Zoomed with them on Thanksgiving Day, they announced that they too are having a baby, in June. So, we will be grandparents to two babies in 2021. There is light at the end of this tunnel!! We are very excited! Can’t believe I am looking forward to a vaccine.
This is the 23rd volume of the Collins Courier. I am wondering if it is time to put this “baby” to bed?! Perhaps next year I will just send a group picture with our children and their children.