We started off the year with a new president, and for the first time ever, a female vice-president. I don’t hear much coming from the female VP, which is a little disappointing (it took long enough for us to get a woman in office). But then I try to avoid the news, so she may be doing wondrous things and I wouldn’t really know. It’s been tough-going for Biden, because Trump just won’t give up his snarky comments. But at least things are a lot calmer than last year (not great, but better).
We were still under quarantine the first quarter of the year, but finally the drug companies finished development of the vaccine. Suddenly, it became a contest between all the senior Baby Boomers to get online as soon as you heard about availability and snag an appointment slot before they were all taken. Some of my friends ended up driving several miles out of town, since the vaccine was easier to get in sparsely-populated rural areas. The most creative distribution site that I heard about was in Sullivan, MO where they turned an old drive-in movie theater into a drive-thru vaccination site. All you had to do was roll down your window and stick your arm out. Luckily, we got our shots at a regular hospital.
Since most shops, restaurants, parks, and museums were still closed, I had to get creative on entertainment over the winter. I signed up for an online German class through the community college. I didn’t get anywhere close to fluent, but I discovered that the German language wasn’t nearly as difficult to learn as I thought it would be. Maybe one day I’ll get to take a trip back to Germany and test out my new language skills. I also got back into geocaching. There were some very interesting ones within walking distance of our house, but geocaching has really changed. Instead of a Garmin GPS, I just used the map function in the geocaching app on my phone to find the caches.
The pandemic really played havoc with our robotics tournament season. Since most schools were shut down, there was no place to hold events. But teachers seemed to be having luck using Zoom for online instruction, so we decided to try using it to host our robotics competitions. Teams would point their laptop cameras at their playing fields while the robots performed tasks, and then use their phone cameras to zoom in on the mission models for scoring. A lot of people complain about Zoom, but I think there are a lot of perks. I never had to go out in the snow or get up at 5am in order to get to Wentzville on time. I got to peek into a lot of living rooms, dining rooms, and basements, plus I only had to "dress up" from the waist up. I ended up ref’ing 5 different days using this technique (over 50 teams) and receiving the volunteer of the year award. It turned out to be a great success!
2021 was a milestone year for our family in terms of celebrations. Bruce turned 70. Teresa and my cousin, Shelley, turned 60. And Michael turned 40. Karen turned 65 and joined the ranks of senior citizens on social security. Bruce and I celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary by getting takeout from Mi Ranchito (it still wasn't open for in-person dining).
This was supposed to be the year of my 50th high school reunion, but with the pandemic, it was postponed. So I decided to take my own trip down memory lane visiting all the places we used to hang out at during high school. Surprisingly, many of them were still in business, and HiBoys still makes the best onion rings in the country.
We spent most of the spring getting our U City house ready to sell – spreading mulch, touching up paint, refinishing doors, and...
de-cluttering, de-cluttering, DE-CLUTTERING. We made so many trips to Goodwill. Bruce staged a small garage sale and was overrun with customers. We put some of the really odd stuff out for bulky trash, but it was snapped up almost as fast as we laid it at the curb. By the time we called Got Junk, we only had to pay for pickup on our old mattress and broken refrigerator.
Finally, on June 9, we said good-bye to St Louis and headed off to Colorado.
We spent the next few weeks unpacking boxes and putting new furniture together.
But it’s hard to stay indoors in Colorado with so many amazing outdoor opportunities. Bruce traded in his Miata and bought a new Jeep. We joined the biking and hiking clubs, bought state park passes for access to lakes and trails, and learned to play pickleball - the fastest growing sport for seniors, though I think I’ve spent more time at pickleball happy hours than actually playing the game.
Things finally started loosening up the second half of the year, so after my 3rd vaccine shot, I decided to brave the airlines and visit the kids in Seattle and Chicago. Most people might think I’m nuts, but it was nice to breathe air for a while with a higher oxygen content and a little more humidity and pollution. Living at such a high altitude (our neighborhood in Aurora is actually 1,000 ft higher than the "mile-high" city of Denver) has been quite an adjustment.
It’s hard to predict what 2022 will bring, but I know we don’t regret making the move to Colorado. There aren't as many trees, and I'm still not used to all the prairie dogs, deer, and snakes right outside our door. But the sun shines all the time, and the view of the mountains is incredible. It’s a great place to retire.
