If anyone had told me on New Year’s Eve (2019) that I was toasting to what was going to be the craziest year, I probably wouldn’t have said “Happy New Year”! Now going into the end of 2020, I am for sure yelling “JUMANJI”!! (if you haven’t seen any of the Jumanji movies, they are great for a moviethon night)
While 2020 has seemed like we were in a never-ending game, I do believe that a lot of positives have come out of this year. For our CALAfam, positives have included:
- Marie welcomed a new fur baby and her kids (9 and 11 years old) have enthusiastically embraced 10+ mile on-street bike rides — opening up a lot more areas for their family to explore.
- Arum welcomed a baby girl.
- Dave bought a new mountain bike and is now “in the best shape I’ve been in years”
- Danielle got to continue doing volunteer work with a two dog rescues from home, and helped find lots of dogs new families.
- Zach spent a lot more time playing golf, caught up with friends that he hadn’t spoken to in a while and spent a lot of quality time with his wife.
- Brian was able to spend more time with his family and indulge in his hobby of vintage stereo equipment restoration.
- Grant got ENGAGED!
- Amanda spent more time outdoors with those in her social circle and made good use of the local parks pass.
- Mark was excited to hear that King park won an APWA award; proud of the quick progress we made to successfully transition staff to remote work success; and happy for staff that pursued their continuing education and received certifications this year.
- Belinda spent a lot more time with her family.
- Melissa remodeled her kitchen just in time for the pandemic! “It is great because I am cooking a lot for the family while we are all home together.”
- Megan has an improved commute: over 7,000 vehicle miles saved, over 150 fewer hours spent driving, and over 150 morning walks with her father.
- Melinda is really thankful to have her family by her side,” I have no clue how I’d get through 2020 without them!”
- Shawn has enjoyed less traffic, ability to work from home and had his best year investing in the stock market.
- Nate completed the longest bike ride of his life (80 MILES!!!).
- Kelly had a little more time to experiment with cooking and tried some new dishes like, creamy chipotle shrimp and a chicken alfredo casserole (YUM!)
- Dan and his wife celebrated their 10 year wedding anniversary. He was also excited that the SMUD HQ Renovation project won an ASLA Sierra Chapter Award (adding yet another award for this legacy project!)
- Iqra was promoted to Project Manager this year and it “is definitely my positive this year!”
- Alice worked on her powder skills and is able to keep snowboarding without falling anymore!
- Ben spent lots of time at home with the family. He is also proud of the fact that we were still able to get some amazing projects done (on time and within budget!)
- Cam spent a lot of time in his garden and it “has never looked better!”
- Mike was able to spend more time with his family without leaving the job
- Dania has had the opportunity to fall back in love with old hobbies.
As for me, I am extremely proud of how CALA was able to handle this pandemic from the beginning and throughout the year. My other positives include: I now have a college freshman, a high school freshmen, I hit my 10 year CALAversary, my husband and I celebrated our 15 year wedding anniversary and my dogs are the happiest things on this planet right now because their humans are always home and always up for an outdoor adventure.
So while we were all stuck in this wild game of 2020, the positives were bountiful. As we come to the end of the year and welcome in 2021, our CALAfam would like to send you all positive thoughts for happy Holidays, and wishes for a healthy (and not so crazy) New Year!
