Four Months Later...

If life were a movie, the screen would start to focus on a scene of a young couple unpacking their car after a nice vacation trip to Colorado. They are tired, but happy. The couple goes inside the house, shutting the door behind them. You can hear the sound of muffled laughter as the screen fades to black.

The words "four months later" appear big on the middle of the screen. The camera opens on a bleak, dystopian future. The city skylines are nothing but a shell of what they used to be. The lines at food pantries are miles long. People wait for hours to get tested for this disease that has ravaged the country. The country's leader refuses to give up power, even though the people have rightfully voted him out.

Our young hero sits at a desk, writing his final paper, which will finalize his training and put him in a perfect position to go out there and save the world...

Okay, okay... "dystopian" may be a bit intense of a word to use. "Hero" probably isn't a good fit. Well, and he DEFINITELY isn't young. But, hey, it could work. I DID just submit my final paper... for the semester. One year left! By this time next year, that MSW will be within my grasp.

Sadly, some of that other stuff... like the lines at food banks, a disease ravaging the country and a leader that refuses to give up power is the sad truth of our times. We are TEN months into COVID, and the only glimmer of hope is the slooooooowww unveiling of a vaccine that probably won't get to "normal" people like myself until late spring or early summer. 

We lost my Uncle Bobby in October, after his long battle with cancer. Mom, Nick and I drove down to Houston for the service. It was great to get to see all of the family, albeit under horrible circumstances. Being around my aging family, as well as being around plenty of alcohol, created some challenges for sobriety... but I made it. I talked to people. That was another thing, I was glad that Uncle Bobby got to see me SOBER before he passed. So many of the other times he saw me... I definitely wasn't.

Joe Biden won the election. Donald Trump disputed it... is STILL disputing it. Democrats kept the house and didn't take back the senate. So, while it was a good night, it was NOT the sweeping victory we were hoping for. With a divided congress, it'll be a tough battle for Joe to get anything productive done for at LEAST two years.

I celebrated THREE years of sobriety from alcohol. November 14, 2020. It was a Saturday, so Megan and I decided to take a "break" from isolating and went to a comedy club to see one of my favorite actor's stand up routine. The only reason we decided to do this was that the club SUPPOSEDLY had super strict COVID guidelines. Yeah. Right. What a joke. The show was hilarious, but that club was NOT SAFE. We are so fortunate we walked out of there without catching the 'rona. 

Thanksgiving was weird, but nice. We didn't have a typical "family" holiday. Mom and Nick came over to our place. We ordered a big turkey dinner from Ingrid's, picked it up the day before and just warmed it up. Nick napped on the couch. I napped in the recliner. Mom and Megan talked... and talked... and talked... I guess some things never change. :-)