Just another hit

 Another month, another gut punch from the spectacular pile of crap that has been 2020.

It's the day before Thanksgiving. Normally, I would be traveling to upstate New York to visit family for the holiday. This is traditionally one of the few "vacations" I take during the year. I love to visit the farm and spend a few days away from work and just relaxing.

But like everything else in 2020, that has gone down the drain. First it was the end of the high school winter sports season, with a number of local teams still in contention for championships. The complete loss of the spring sports season followed, leaving a large group of athletes without a chance to compete for one final time for their school and their community. There was a trip to New York and another to Atlanta, both for Survivor - RHAP events, both cancelled due to 2020 being a shit show. There was the St. Patrick's Day trip to Dublin, Ireland with the University of New Hampshire Marching Band that got called off at the last minute. And of course, there was the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which were going to be my first shot at covering the Summer Games after two previous Winter Games experiences. But in late March, they were called off as well.

Just for good measure, there was the temporary layoff that lasted from April until mid-August and seeing a number of my co-workers laid off as well as COVID wreaked its havoc on the newspaper industry.

But now, it's messing with my holidays. And that kind of sucks. I know not traveling to New York is the right thing to do, but it still sucks. Instead of four days of relaxing on the farm, I'll spend a good chunk of the time making donuts, pies and other baked goods at the Yum Yum Shop.

And I guess they'll be some stories to write in that time too.

Hopefully next year we can go back to the family gathering together for Thanksgiving in New York.