Recapping 2020

 It's been over a year since my last post. Alot happened in 2020, but at the same time not a lot happened. COVID-19 was a major disruption to the world, and also to us locally. The economy shut down and people were required to wear masks, if the places did eventually open. More people worked remotely (if they didn't lose their job) and all travel came to a grinding halt. This of course affected us as well.

It's pretty hard to have the kids live a normal life, if everything around is not "normal". Having to explain why they cannot see their friends, go to school, and where masks at the store is hard enough. Hand sanitizer and toilet paper was hard to obtain at certain points, and media made people panic. I haven't watched this little news as ever - not watching the depressing media headlines putting fear into the eyes of America.

Donald Trump wrapped up his 4th (volatile) year in office, with his random "tweets" and non-standard behavior. He is about to transition out as I type this - democrats won the Presidency and most other elections. Probably because people were tired of hearing from Trump and his ego.

More importantly, is the OPRE FAMILY. Ella is healthy as ever and turned 3 in August. Viviana is turning 5 this week. Dad built Ella a platform house bed, and ever since...they both sleep in it. They seem to like each others' company and sleep pretty well at night. Prior to that, Ella was climbing out of bed several times a night and needing to be tucked back in.

Ella loves "gummy bears" and Viviana loves "unicorns". They request these for presents and parties. For Xmas,

I bought them some tennis racquets, new soccer balls and net, and previously a set of junior golf clubs. I am trying to keep them active when most other organized and group sports are on hold.

Christine just turned the big FOUR-OH and we rented a limo bus. Our first limo ride for the kids and they loved it. Colleen came up from FL with her family, and Stephanie family and the Capone family joined us. We did a little stop at an outdoor brewery, en route to snowless tubing in Gastonia. It was fun, we had other friends meet us along the way and had a fire pit at the tubing place.

We added a member to the Opre family this year, our Pyra-doodle ZOEY. Born January 2019, we went to visit the kennel in March 2020 to give the kids something to do (during COVID) and boom - came home with a dog. She is quite an active dog (to put it mildly) and very much a handful. About 60 lbs now, needs constant exercise but overall is a good and smart pup. The kids get along with her - but sometimes she plays too rough - as do the kids! Zoey is lying next to me, as I watch NFL playoff football and the rest of the family is sleeping.

I haven't been doing as much travel, and mostly working from home. That too has its pros and cons. I almost have to force myself to get out and about, doing walks through the neighborhood and broke rides with Zoey. Thankfully the gym is back open (working out with a MASK on isn't very fun) and we've been playing basketball in Mooresville two days a week at the Talbert rec center. That's been my primary source of cardio.

We did travel to South Carolina with the Capones in August - their family has a nice house in the mountains/lake. That was a lot of fun, and a nice reprieve from the dormant social lives we have here in Huntersville. We also did make two road trips to FL in 2020. The First was January (Boca Raton) and the second was a drive to Melbourne Beach. We mostly spent time with the family on each trip. Good times had by all. We got to see Brian Opre and family as well too...it was short but fun. Our girls love following Alexandra around!

Separately, Grandma Opre and Pop-Pop came to visit us in October, and Grandma came again right before Xmas. Grandma Patty came in the fall as well. The kids love their grandparents, and they spoil and love them so much as well.

It's so hard to sum up a year with one blog post. But with the world upended, we did our best. And continue to try and do our best. It's stressful at times, more so than normal non-pandemic times. Thankfully the market marched higher and my business had its best year ever. More clients than ever needed help and planning advice, and the new clients coming onboard has been steady. For this, I am humbly grateful. Knock on wood that we get back to some sense of normalcy and our kids can get the most out of their childhood. Either way, we'll adapt and make it good for them.

For now, I will wrap this up. Hope to post again soon...