2020: The year of lemonade

2020: The virus, the 'rona, COVID, the quarantine, the shutdown. And a layoff for me, and temporary work stoppage for Dawn.

I've always been a glass-half-full guy, but this year has definitely challenged me. I cried, I questioned, I second-guessed, and I worried.

But along the way I had some amazing friends who offered me some small odd jobs, and somehow I darn near turned myself into a handyman of sorts.

Life gave me lemons. But friends gave me some sugar, and I made a big ol' batch of lemonade while the world argued about masks.

This is my life update, and a two-fold nudge: One of encouragement if you're going through a difficult season, and one of being that friend when someone else is struggling.

It was April, and I had just finished a week of furlough. I learned that my 3 weeks of unpaid time off was changing to an elimination of my position. The years of struggles in the newspaper industry finally knocked on my door, and within a few days I was cleaning out my work desk and turning in my laptop and building key, just like I had seen so many friends and co-workers do. 

After a couple weeks of being butt-hurt, I picked up a couple of small mowing jobs, helped a friend lay some pavers at the back of his house, and then decided to let the Facebook world know that I might be interested in doing some landscape / yard work if anyone was interested. That led to one small job, and some more mowing work. Next thing I know I'm sanding a 1,000-square foot deck, hauling and spreading mulch and loading up field stones from a friend's pile of unwanted rock and delivering it to a customer to line their flower beds. These jobs, mostly, were that sugar I was talking about friends providing. Don't ever underestimate the importance in helping a friend. I will forever remember how these friends reached out and hired me as a show of kindness and God's love, when they didn't have to.

I also had the opportunity to work with my son two days a week for most of the summer, and what a treat that was to see what he had learned, and to watch him command his work. Drew's trailer-backing skills? Impressive!!! And it put us in a truck together for a few hours a week to have some meaningful conversations, and some fun conversations.

Along the way I got a shout-out for doing good work, and someone I haven't seen in decades heard about that and suggested me to a friend, which led to some part-time work basically all summer long, cleaning up their many, many flower beds, delivering and spreading mulch, trimming trees, and transplanting plants (my over-aggressiveness removing a rose bush put me on the DL for a while, but that's a story for another day). 

I even took on a job inside a new home, hanging some custom-ordered blinds and installing hardware on cabinets. You know, super basic tasks for lots of people, but jobs that forced me to lean on YouTube for tips. 

I was thoroughly enjoying the work. It felt good to be busy, to sweat and to be outside in the 90-degree days of June and July. I actually had a moment where I wondered if I could start my own business and sustain this. But winter scared me, and there was a need for a job that provided health insurance.

During all of this, applications were filled out and resumes submitted, including for 2-3 jobs that on paper looked like a very good fit for my skills. Because you know, when your skills are writing, editing, website management and social media, good fits aren't all over the place.

On a couple of occasions, a good friend had mentioned to me the idea of changing industries and trying my hand in the world of insurance, where he has built a respected company.

And that is where I have landed. I'm joining the team at Unified Group Services, and I'm beyond excited to go to work at a business where management cares about the employees, where they empower people to learn and grow, and where they place a priority on the health of the employees. I'm ready to dig in and learn new skills and see where things go in a new future.

There's some uncertainty about such a big change, but I believe this is where God wants me, and if you were part of my support system the past few months, you're appreciated more than you know.