The Prez
Says
December 2020
Hello
everyone!
I trust everyone is making their way through the holidays and in good health!
This has truly been a very unusual year. In normal times, by this time in December, most of us are frantically trying to finish up our Christmas shopping, wrapping piles of gifts, perhaps attending holiday parties and trying to get ready for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day with our families. But this year that has all been put on hold. I don’t have to tell you the endless events that have led up to this point. You know that sad story. So, instead, let’s think about all the positive aspects of 2020 instead...hang on now, I’m trying to really think… 😊
Before writing this article, I spent time looking back, musing about life with COVID and how it may have affected not only myself, but many of us in Mountain View. The absolute first thought that came to mind was that I would never, ever take my family and friends for granted again. It’s not that I didn’t love them in the first place, rather I realized I had forgotten how utterly precious they truly are to me. This, my friends, is a definite positive!
So, let’s see if we can find other positive outcomes from this year. Because we had fewer exercise outlets, we walked more. From walking, perhaps we became more physically fit (well, maybe that’s an arguable point) and certainly we met and got to know more of our neighbors. We could not eat at restaurants, so we saved money there. And we learned we could get our groceries delivered to our front door! I also learned that ordering from Amazon is not as easy as it appears. When you are given a quantity of ‘one’, read the fine print! I cannot tell you how many times I ordered ’just one’ and ended up with six or eight or ten in a box. I wasn’t alone in this comedy of errors either. We had a virtual swap meet at our end of Grandview from swabs to Rice Krispy Bars to brownie mix and eight cans of cake frosting (that would be me) along with an unknown number of jars of spaghetti sauce.
Then there was the traffic, or lack of it. Wasn’t that a great perk while it lasted? Of course, we gained Tele-medicine, and new industries like mask making companies and breweries who converted their tanks to making much needed hand sanitizer. Since we could not go anywhere, we used less gasoline, so that saved us money, too. Oh, and what about ZOOM? Who knew it was a communication program? I thought it was just a word used to describe someone driving fast. Yet, some of us are using it on a regular basis now. The Social Club was ingenious figuring out ways to keep our community in touch and those events were a great success.
There was a lot of fear, uneasiness and sadness this year. We all recognize that. But in-spite of it, we have come through intact and we are smarter, perhaps in better shape and stronger for it. Mountain View is a special place to live. We look after one another, help take care of one another and through it all, we are always there for one another. I’m not sure it gets any better than that. Let’s get through the last few days of 2020, get our vaccinations and look forward to much better outcomes next year. We are all SO ready for it!!
Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa and happy New Year everyone. Wherever you will be for the holidays, stay safe. We’ll talk again in 2021.
Pat Roy
I trust everyone is making their way through the holidays and in good health!
This has truly been a very unusual year. In normal times, by this time in December, most of us are frantically trying to finish up our Christmas shopping, wrapping piles of gifts, perhaps attending holiday parties and trying to get ready for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day with our families. But this year that has all been put on hold. I don’t have to tell you the endless events that have led up to this point. You know that sad story. So, instead, let’s think about all the positive aspects of 2020 instead...hang on now, I’m trying to really think… 😊
Before writing this article, I spent time looking back, musing about life with COVID and how it may have affected not only myself, but many of us in Mountain View. The absolute first thought that came to mind was that I would never, ever take my family and friends for granted again. It’s not that I didn’t love them in the first place, rather I realized I had forgotten how utterly precious they truly are to me. This, my friends, is a definite positive!
So, let’s see if we can find other positive outcomes from this year. Because we had fewer exercise outlets, we walked more. From walking, perhaps we became more physically fit (well, maybe that’s an arguable point) and certainly we met and got to know more of our neighbors. We could not eat at restaurants, so we saved money there. And we learned we could get our groceries delivered to our front door! I also learned that ordering from Amazon is not as easy as it appears. When you are given a quantity of ‘one’, read the fine print! I cannot tell you how many times I ordered ’just one’ and ended up with six or eight or ten in a box. I wasn’t alone in this comedy of errors either. We had a virtual swap meet at our end of Grandview from swabs to Rice Krispy Bars to brownie mix and eight cans of cake frosting (that would be me) along with an unknown number of jars of spaghetti sauce.
Then there was the traffic, or lack of it. Wasn’t that a great perk while it lasted? Of course, we gained Tele-medicine, and new industries like mask making companies and breweries who converted their tanks to making much needed hand sanitizer. Since we could not go anywhere, we used less gasoline, so that saved us money, too. Oh, and what about ZOOM? Who knew it was a communication program? I thought it was just a word used to describe someone driving fast. Yet, some of us are using it on a regular basis now. The Social Club was ingenious figuring out ways to keep our community in touch and those events were a great success.
There was a lot of fear, uneasiness and sadness this year. We all recognize that. But in-spite of it, we have come through intact and we are smarter, perhaps in better shape and stronger for it. Mountain View is a special place to live. We look after one another, help take care of one another and through it all, we are always there for one another. I’m not sure it gets any better than that. Let’s get through the last few days of 2020, get our vaccinations and look forward to much better outcomes next year. We are all SO ready for it!!
Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa and happy New Year everyone. Wherever you will be for the holidays, stay safe. We’ll talk again in 2021.
Pat Roy