2020 is, for many, a year they wish to put behind them but will be forever remembered. In addition to the Coronavirus pandemic, there were many memorable moments for me. Here is a brief list:
January: Lost my internet startup job in Boston after the company reorganized and laid one-third of the employees. My wife was in Boston with me on this business trip, and the first thing she said to me when learning the news was “we need to start visiting seminaries”. We made plans for this as I began applying for jobs.
February: The #greatGallowayroadtrip to visit St. Vladimir’s and St. Tikhon’s. We started off by spending a few days in Washington DC visiting the (free) highlights while staying in a funky basement apartment AirBNB, then a few days with Megan’s grandparents at the beach in Delaware, a few days at each seminary, and back home to South Carolina.
March: We decided that SVOTS was the right place and applied there as the pandemic lockdowns began. I also continued applying for jobs, knowing that it would likely only be for a few months. I was admitted to SVOTS and got a good job at my previous employer I left to go to the startup and resolved to land as many of my initial projects as possible before leaving in late July.
April: We began remodeling projects to put our house on the market. Painted several rooms, new carpet in the downstairs office/4th bedroom, lots of pressure washing, gutter cleaning, we removed and repainted the cast iron bannister, and did quite a lot of landscaping. I went through 60+ bags of mulch. We found a wonderful realtor.
May: Our house officially went on the market and we got our full asking price by the first family that toured the house within six hours of going on the market. Thanks be to God! The proceeds allowed us to pay off car loans and put enough in savings to pay for the first year of seminary expenses out of pocket.
June: We moved out of our home. We elected to use a reasonably-priced moving company that could store everything we couldn’t fit in our minivan and then deliver it to our seminary apartment in August. In the meantime, we would stay with my in-laws one county over while I continued to work and my wife Megan started building up her Etsy store selling Orthodox home decor. Her 97-year-old grandmother died during the month and I stayed at home with the kids (COVID restrictions) while she traveled to the funeral in Delaware.
July: My last month at my corporate job. Before this, other than my six weeks of unemployment at the beginning of the year, I had worked steadily without pause since 2004. I looked forward to my new adventure, but I was worried about providing my family and did my best to trust in God.
August: We moved to St. Vladimir’s and I began studies in my M.Div program after our 14-day quarantine in our apartment. The only bad part of the quarantine were the first four days before our moving truck arrived and we had to make do with camp chairs and an air mattress. I had also had my first (and so far only!) affliction of having my sciatic nerve pinched, so I was pretty miserable until we had our furniture and I could finally find a position to sit/sleep without pain.
September: Full speed ahead at seminary. My oldest daughter began her homeschool co-op program and my wife had a hard time adjusting to a very different life. We made a few adjustments to our schedule to help.
October: Megan took the girls to visit her parents who were at a wedding in Maryland, and afterward she was much happier with life at seminary. Several events on campus including the Fall Festival and Chili Cookoff.
November: The end of regular classes. On the 21st Megan, the girls, and the dog left to pick up grandpa and travel back to her parents in SC so he would not have to be alone for the first Thanksgiving after his wife’s passing (and her birthday shortly thereafter).
December: Final exams and papers. I did well and made the Dean’s List. I flew home for two weeks for Christmas and we traveled back to SVOTS, arriving on the 29th.
It was quite a full year, and while there was much to lament (COVID and the loss of grandma), there was also much to celebrate. Glory to God for all things!