From the Publisher

Goodbye, 2020, Hello, 2021! For most of us, there has never been a more challenging year in our lifetime than in 2020. 2020 has been a year of pestilence, riots, injustice, infernos, job loss, food lines, and an ugly presidential election in a politically divided country. At one point during the year, I wondered had the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse finally arrived. No live parties, church, concerts, sports, movies, travel, graduations, weddings, funerals, and for some, no opportunity to say goodbye. We will be forever changed having endured this year.

My journey through last year began in early January with some stories about some pernicious virus from a city in China that I had never heard of. The next thing I know, both my senior in high school and my senior in college were studying remotely from home, and the President was on the TV addressing the nation about a pandemic. The President? Wow, this is serious and real! We had already scheduled our spring break for the next Monday to Key West. Considering we had already arranged to have all of our wood floors refinished and our furniture put into a Pod while we were away, we decided to go anyway. On our first night, we had a wonderful dinner at a wine bar and were looking forward to exploring this incredible bohemian tropical paradise. The next day, we were locked down in our resort and wondering if we would be able to get back to Nashville safely or even at all. We were able to return and spent the first day at the shiny new Grand Hyatt in Green Hills. The hotel was virtually empty—no staff including bellman and room services—just a lone gentleman hiding behind the front desk who could check us in. On that weekend evening, a part of town that is usually bustling with activity was practically a ghost town.

When we returned to our home, my office was closed, so I started working remotely. My final act in my 30-year career in financial services was to be a fixer of PPP loan applications, where I pulled my first all-nighter in years. Both of my sons completed their studies and were cheated out of their traditional graduation ceremonies, prom, and musical performances they had spent countless hours practicing. So, what next? It seemed for the longest time there was only cocktail hour, meals at home, and a lot of binge-watching to look forward to at the end of the day as the alarming news continuously ran in the background.

But despite all of the adversity, there have been some positives. I was spending more time with my family at home than, well, ever before. I told my two sons that this was probably the last summer we would all live under the same roof, so we should appreciate our time together. Working at home remotely, I realized that we didn’t need to physically work at an office—the way businesses operate has permanently changed. With all this time at home, we started to notice projects that need to be tackled to improve our everyday quality of life. In addition to our floors, we replaced some glass doors and windows, gave a slight facelift to our exterior, upgraded our plumbing, and purchased a new tankless water heater that I didn’t know we needed. Lockdown has also provided more time for new and old hobbies and time for reflection, spiritual awareness, meditation, and prayer.

While thankful for the 2020 silver linings mentioned above, thank God for the new vaccines and the miraculous speed in which they have been developed—in a matter of months when it usually takes years! There is a light at the end of the tunnel, which is 2021. Be well.

Dave Mahanes, Publisher dave@slmag.net