For those of you that are not on our Christmas card list (you know why), I thought I’d share our 2020 goings on…what there was of it. I’m sure the curiosity has been a dreadful burden to bare. So here you have it…

All Batman ever really wanted was to be left alone. Left alone to play with his Batman toys and do Batman stuff in his Batman cave. Perhaps a short break whenever Alfred appeared with a tray full of wisdom, disguised as milk and cookies, but then, sporting a prominent milk moustache and smatterings of cookie crumbs, back to serious Batman stuff. That’s all he wanted, but some people just couldn’t behave, they just wouldn’t keep their distance. So it goes.

News…news? What’s new and newsy? Maybe you’ve heard, but the other day the newspaper said something about some sort of world-wide pandemic? Sounds serious, and I seriously hope that you and yours have managed to keep your ship mostly above water throughout this storm.

All’s well with milady and I. Still mostly upright and moving along through life, grateful for our family, our friends, and careers we find meaningful. Although our jobs, like most everyone else’s, took a bit of a turn in March, we are quite grateful it was only a turn rather than a full stop. Dawn’s patient load was a little lighter for a bit, but she was back to being busy in short order, and is diligently working to dehitch the giddy up of all who limp her way. My classes pivoted to online to finish off the spring semester, but I had to take my jammies off and go back to campus this fall. We included a picture of our beloved cabin on this year’s Christmas card because it was lost to a 30,000-acre wildfire this past September. All those years of love and labor were laid low in a single day. It’s true that solitude can be found anywhere, but we preferred finding ours there. Thankfully lives were only changed, not lost, as a result of the fire. I’ll step aside for a sentence or two for Dawn to express her sympathies regarding the loss of her Grandma Rosella a few months back. After 97 years of visiting this Earth, the angels came to say “It’s time to see Ray. He’s been waiting patiently to give you a peck on the cheek.”

Our eldest has now been a New Yorker for over a year and loving it. Mostly loving it, the plague has put a damper on some of the footloose and fancy-free city activities she has grown so fond of exploring. Her job as a Production Assistant for Showtime’s Billions, was put on hold due to the whole plague thing, but they plan to start shooting again in March. In the meantime, Sierra is working as a Production Assistant for Tina Fey’s new show, Girls5Eva. As Gotham was a bit of an epicenter for the pandemic I informed you about a few paragraphs back, we were slightly concerned for her safety and wellbeing. We suggested she come home until the dust settled, but she politely ignored our pleas. As her father, I did the sensible thing and began hatching a plan with Kurt Russel to plan her escape…from New York. Kurt, nor I, are as spry as we once were so Dawn and I are quite grateful for the kindness and hospitality provided by Sierra’s boyfriend’s parents in taking her in and allowing her to ride out the worst of it with them in their home on Long Island.

Jackson officially has nothing to look forward to anymore, except perhaps renting a car, senior discounts, and Velcro shoes, as he turned 21 this summer. His job was carried off with the plague wave in March, but as of late, he’s kept busy learning the home flooring installation trade until the looooong enlistment process for the Air Force concludes. The Air Force may aim high, but they’re none too quick about it, which is surprising given the usual operational competence, speed, and efficiency that most governmental entities adhere to. He’s not sure what career path he’d like to pursue in the Air Force, but he’s been given a laundry list of choices. I never expected to see “tail gunner” and “band member” on the same vocational list. My fatherly advice was to pick something he found interesting, useful, and mostly plague-proof. Jackson and I enjoyed another summer as teammates on the Drillers, tearing it up in the Black Hills Amateur Baseball League. Well, he tore it up, I just tore my muscles…and my pants. I had planned on retiring…again…but Jackson guilted me into playing again. I still love the game and enjoy the time it allows Jackson and I to be together.

They say 20/20 is perfect vision, and perhaps 2020 has provided all of us a clearer vision of what is important and essential in our lives. When the world fell away, I hope you landed on your feet and found what and whom matters most. All the best to you and yours.