As I approach post #2022 there will be no more reminiscing about years gone by. I will have to think of a new idea starter when it comes to my daily ramblings. When writing about the year 2019 yesterday, I suddenly realized what an eventful, live-changing year it was in my life. (See Post #2019) As I now look back with hindsight on last year, 2020, it began as a busy continuation of 2019, starting with dinner at Bern’s Steak House in Tampa. The two girls were married and owned homes of their own. We sent them on nice honeymoons to Hawaii, but left them on the West Coast while we looked for the right place in Florida to retire. We had made plans to get together with them all in both Tahoe and Hawaii before the year was over that never happened. We also had trips planned to St. Kitts, Bali, Egypt, Spain, and Russia, hoping to frequently escape from the cramped confines of our small apartment in Portland. We did get to Las Vegas and were on the plane to Phoenix when the sky fell in. 

All our travel plans changed in an instant with the onset of Covid. Spring Training was cancelled, even the NCAA Tournament.  We were grounded in Portland for months but in the midst of Covid cautiously got on a Orlando bound plane in June and rented a car to tour potential Florida homesites. By the end of the journey we had put money down on the lot that with some adjustments would eventually become our new home. After the flight home, a month later we drove the Solara to Glacier National Park, meeting friends for Walla Walla wine tasting on the way there. The Canadian border was closed so we had to alter our plans to stay at the Prince Albert Hotel – no thanks again to Covid. 

In August, we got in the Lexus and drove the 3,000 miles to Florida, stopping in San Francisco, Desert Springs, Tucson, Marfa, Austin, and Lake City along the way. We then started the building process in Venice before leaving the car at my son’s house and flying back to Portland. This completed the first leg of our permanent move that would happen in early 2021. It was another eventful year without a single trip to Back Home to Indiana for once. I reflect back to what I’ll probably always call the year of the virus where Hindsight is 20/20.