A bump in the road

On Monday morning, word came down that the Tokyo Olympics had a new start date.
On Wednesday morning, word came down that impacted life in a more personal and much more impactful way.
The organizers of the Tokyo Games came out on Monday morning with an announcement that the Olympics would start on July 23, 2021. That date was one day less than one year from the original planned starting date. This is good news in many ways, since that time of year is best in my schedule as far as having some free time. This also gives the world a lot of time to rebound from this pandemic that has caused all the problems.
Media members received an e-mail on Wednesday morning from the people handling the accommodations that they would be in communication with the hotels that were housing the media and would let us know if it was possible to keep all our planned nights in the media housing.
This was all good news, but it was later Wednesday morning that the news that wasn't so good came along.
With a massive hit in advertising revenue, our company needed to find ways to meet the budget and the way to do it at this point, with no sports going on, was to temporarily lay off the sports department.
While this came as a shock in many ways, it was also something that probably could've been seen coming down the pike, as so many businesses continue to struggle during the pandemic.
Maybe it's time to go back a little to describe just what this means in my world.
I started mowing lawns in my teens, doing two or three a week in addition to my own. I also got a job at the local racetrack, working in the concession stands. The day after I graduated from high school, I started working at a grocery store in town. And I don't think I've stopped since.
After working at the store during the summer, I headed to the University of New Hampshire in the fall of 1994 and during the first semester, I focused on adjusting to school, playing in marching band and just getting used to things. During Christmas break, I was back at the grocery store and when I returned to UNH, I applied for a job at the dining hall near my dorm.
I worked for a year and a half as a regular student-employee, putting in as many hours as my class schedule would allow. Near the end of my sophomore year I applied for the job of student supervisor and starting in my junior year, I moved into that position. This job remains one of my favorite jobs I've ever had, simply because I was working with a great group of people and I got to "be in charge."
I did that job for my final two years of college, at times working close to 40 hours a week in addition to my classes. When the grocery store closed down, eliminating my vacation job, I got a job working for a food service company at Hidden Valley Boy Scout Camp in Gilmanton the summer after my junior year. I worked Monday through Thursday 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. and then headed north and worked at a different grocery store in town for both days of the weekend.
I did the summer camp job the summer after my senior year and the company offered me a full time job at a nursing home in Concord when the summer was over. I also went back to UNH just a week or so into the year and started working part time at the dining hall again.
I left the Concord nursing home in late 1999 to work at a nursing home in Ossipee and continued to work part time at UNH.
Then, in early 2001, one of the cooks at the nursing home, knowing I had an English degree, said that a friend of hers was looking for a freelance sports writer for the Carroll County Independent. Mike Whaley hired me and I started with the spring sports season.
I continued with all three jobs through the next few years and eventually, the full time sports editor job became available and Jeanne Tempest hired me. I started in January of 2003. I kept working part time at the nursing home for years after that.
After leaving the nursing home, I also worked part time at Pronto Market in Wolfeboro for a few years and also did more than a year with Afterdark Commercial Cleaning.
So, needless to say, I don't know what it's like to not work. It's not in my nature. I have a crazy work ethic that I believe came from my father and even just sitting at home the last week working from home has been driving me crazy.
Now, I don't have a job. And I don't know what to do with myself.
The hope remains that when sports start back up again, I will be able to return to work. But until then,  I just don't know.