As we mercifully come a close to a year that will be its own chapter in our kid’s history books, I reflect on the bad, the really bad but also the good that came from 2020.

My year started with promise. I landed an exciting job opportunity in February in San Antonio near family and found an apartment off a golf course on a very hopping (as no one says anymore) side of town. I lived in walking distance from a Dunkin Donuts and Taco Cabana. I had found my paradise. Momentum was on my side…. until it wasn’t.

The virus that some compared to the flu wasn’t just the flu anymore. I don’t blame health experts because we were dealing with the likes of something we had ever seen in our lifetime. Like in many different industries, our business suffered, and shortly after I was a cost cutting casualty because of it. Dwayne Haskins tenure in Washington lasted longer than mine.

I didn’t think it would happen to me but when it did, I was out like Nate Robinson in an amateur boxing match. It was a momentum killer. A red zone Carson Wentz interception if you will.

I ordered some Raising Canes, listened to some Michelle Branch and hit the job boards the next day, which were even more depressing.

 I applied for over 100 jobs, went on multiple video call interviews, and did the best I could do to network in a time of social distancing and in a city I barely knew anyone. Nothing seemed to work.

In the meantime, I decided to try and make the best of a less than ideal situation. I’m fortunate enough I’ve been smart with my money over the years that I decided to treat my unemployment as a “sabbatical.”

 I took up golf, which as frustrating as that game is, served as a remedy for me. I’m still terrible but there’s something about finally hitting your ball over 100 yards in a straight-ish direction while drinking a few brewskis that keeps you coming back.

 I began running and hiking more and found some new trails on my side of town. I was at one point down 15 lbs from the beginning of the year but we did just hit the holidays so I’m down 10 at this point. I’ll still take it.

I discovered new music and tv shows. Netflix eventually stopped asking if I was still watching.

I’ve been in my bubble for most of the pandemic, but I was able to get away for a long weekend in August to be in my good buddy Drew’s wedding. This is not hyperbole when I say it was a wedding experience that you see in movies.

From staying in a cabin off a lake on the wedding grounds with my best friends, to an impromptu gun range trip hours before the ceremony to air guitaring with a Yuengling in hand to “All the Small Things” at the reception, it was for a moment a semblance of normalcy.

I returned to my bubble recalibrated and hopeful for the future. I took this newfound energy back into my job search and started getting more hits but couldn’t quite close the deal in my interviews.

At least Eagles football was back so I could find escape in their return. Oh wait….

Labor Day came and went. Then Halloween. Still nothing.

A sense of unworthiness and impostor syndrome starting to creep back in, but I began blaring “No Easy Way Out” by Robert Tepper from Rocky IV and pushed on. Guess that’s the Philly blood in me. Down a lot but not out.

Finally, with the economy slowing seeing improvement I connected with my now new company and landed the job I had been seeking for months. Now I have my own office and am fixing to move into my first house.

I wouldn’t want to go through this year again, but I will value the experiences and lessons gained from it.

I understand I’ve been blessed in my situation and millions of others were not as lucky. Days are going to get worse before they get better for many but the key to it all is finding the good with the bad.

 As Dave Grohl says, “It’s times like these you learn to live again.” I can’t think of a more applicable lyric for our current climate.

Thank you to all our followers. I hope we’ve been able to provide at least a fraction of entertainment in your lives during these unprecedented times. Wishing all of you the best in 2021. Better days are ahead. Believe it.