How I’m Saying Goodbye to 2020

Welcome back and happy post-Christmas to you all. Like many I took the holiday off to spend a little time with family, which included being dragged around by my 3-year-old nephew as we played with this toy and that toy. I am proud to say that my gift of wooden building blocks was a big hit!

But now it’s time to return to the work. I know this year has been hard on many people and I truly hope the new year is better for us all. In an effort to create a better energy going into the new year, I kept a list of ridiculous things that happened to me (starting in October of 2019 until current) that I will burn New Year’s Day to clean out the damaging energy in my life. 

When I started the list, my therapist was a little leery of my intentions. She had listened to me stress over some of the items (alright most of the items) and thought I might be dwelling on the negative. I assured her that was not the case. I started the list because every time I turned around something else was in need of repair or replacement or was just a ridiculous turn of events that I had to document the hilarious insanity of it all. The following is said list of events that will stay in 2020, so here we go…

Let’s start with my vehicles – that up until recently included two cars (an SUV and a truck), a golf cart, a riding mower and a tractor with a bushhog (which miraculously escaped the year with no need for repair). Almost every piece required some form of maintenance in the past year. The cars and the mower all needed a new battery, the SUV needed new tires, the truck had what was thought to be an AC drain line problem, but actually turned out to be a leaky back window (long story don’t ask) so that money pit got sold to the dealership that found the problem. Then the riding mower just stopped working and when they went to replicate the problem, they couldn’t do it. But it received a much-needed oil change and blade sharpening at least. The golf cart had the main connector wire corrode and had to be replaced or the batteries wouldn’t hold a charge, of course.

Next, let’s talk about the electronic issues. My iMac went wonky on me so after an hour or more on the phone, it was determined that I needed to take it to Charlotte (the closest Apple repair to me – 2 hours away) for what turned out to be a two-minute fix. The problem was embedded so deep in the system the phone agent just couldn’t find it. Next, my back-up drive died and the replacement I bought didn’t work so I had to replace the replacement (again after a long i.t. call) by sending it to the manufacturer. One of my Nest thermostats quit working (replaced for free thankfully), my living room tv died and took out the dvd player and the output plug for the outdoor camera system for good measure. Oh, and one of my hvac units needed two repairs, because of course it did. And let’s not forget that for the first time ever I shattered my phone screen and had to replace it.

Now you’d think that kind of luck would have run its course after all of that. But no, because the good times just kept rolling when I had to replace the salt cell on my pool along with repairing a leak in the equipment. Then I paid my state taxes only to find out that I had paid 2021 by mistake and still owed my 2020 taxes including fines and interest (not to worry, I sorted it out)

To cap off this list of ridiculousness, I got a speeding ticket in the one county that doesn’t negotiate them down to a non-moving violation but does dismiss them if you attend a class, which of course was 1 ½ hours from my home (yes, I took the class). The last time I got a speeding ticket was over 25 years ago! And because breaking inanimate objects wasn’t enough to appease the gods, I severely sprained my ankle and it took weeks before it was somewhat better again (it still flares up to this day).

A list of 20 different problems on top of stay-at-home orders. I think that’s a record for me. I have never in my life had this kind of luck in one year. I hope to never have one like it again either. 

I started list because it was too funny not to. I mean how many people have this much go wrong in a little over a year? Especially while still recovering from a cheating ex-husband/divorce. I mean toward the middle of summer it became so absurd that I just had to laugh every time something else went wrong. 

And I hope you found humor in the absurdity of it as well, because if we can’t laugh with someone laughing at themselves, who can we laugh at?

I have faith that next year will be better not just for me, but for you my dear reader as well. And maybe help it along by compiling a similar list to burn (safely!) on 1-1-21. Let’s leave that shit behind! 

 “Don’t let today’s disappointments cast a shadow on tomorrow’s dreams.”

—Unknown