2020 Recap – Better Late Than Never
Posted on January 27, 2021 by Ching under Blog, Life.
I’m sure you’ve noticed that it is now the end of January and I still haven’t posted my normal end of year recap. I’ve really struggled with this because 2020 has been exceptionally craptastic. I am usually super excited to recap all the fun trips and exciting things that happened during the past year but 2020 has been nothing but depressing. I was whining about this to my friend Karen not too long ago and she reminded me that 2020 is the year that brought us all closer together so, besides the whole COVID19 pandemic (oh, yes, I thought I would get through the whole year without getting infected or that I would be one of the lucky ones to be completely asymptomatic but Brian and I both got it and we were sick for a good two weeks right before Christmas), there’s positive things that happened too. Inspired by her optimism, I sought out to recall all the positive things that happened last year.
First, I finally bit the bullet and started pickleball lessons. Mom and dad also picked up pickleball last year and, as a present, I got them a lesson with my favorite pickleball teacher too.
Pickleball is probably the only thing that has kept me sane throughout this past year. When the gyms closed during the mandatory stay at home order, I remember thinking I finally got what I wanted because I’d been gradually trying to get rid of Zumba classes to free up more time for pickleball.
I was good and practiced social distancing during the lockdown. I stayed home and isolated from everyone (except Brian) and started offering free virtual Zumba classes online to stay connected with my Zumba family. The ZOOMba kept me active during the month I wasn’t teaching classes at the gyms and wasn’t playing pickleball but it wasn’t the same. By the time the stay at home order was lifted, I was so ready to be around people again.
I resumed playing pickleball but decided not to plunge back into teaching a bajillion Zumba classes. I only brought back one class – my Monday night Zumba class at VASA. Pickleball became my primary outlet for all of my pent up energy and frustrations.
Some of the pickleball milestones from last year include the first anniversary of our local pickleball Facebook group and my officially becoming a USA Pickleball ambassador. I’d been growing the sport in my own way and so, when a spot came open, one of my friends who is an ambassador (Jeanie) encouraged me to apply and make it official.
Anyway, lots of fun pickleball-related stuff happened last year. I got to participate in my very first Nahola league (because, without all of those Zumba classes, I suddenly had time for it). I actually went a little nuts and joined a bunch of leagues and did pretty well in most of them. This is on top of my regular Friday night at Nahola and Sunday morning mixed play at the park.
Speaking of the park, Seneca was the place to be this past summer besides Chicken N Pickle, of course. CNP is like my second home and where several clinics and other fun pickleball events happened.
- There was the Q&A and pro exhibition with Matt Wright and Lucy Kovalova (a couple of famous pickleball players who happen to live in town) at the beginning of the year.
- We threw a surprise farewell party for Aaron Trost (who went to open the CNP in San Antonio).
- Karen and I played some fun mixed doubles rec games with Jocelyn Devilliers and Patrick Smith, aka #Team Model (naturally, Karen and I had on matching outfits that day).
- I attended Ben Johns’ clinic (not once but twice because I am a pickleball fan girl through and through)
- Jack Oxler also offered clinics but I couldn’t take off work. I did make it out there for lunch and got to meet him, though.
- The Jonny Pickleball Show held an episode at CNP I got to meet Jonny Andrews and Lauren Stratman.
- Brian attended Lauren Stratman’s clinic, which I would have attended also if I could have. I just could take the time off work.
- CNP celebrated World Pickleball Day by hosting a tournament for newbies and addicts (by addicts, I mean pickleball addicts).
- Karen and I played in a Halloween tournament and they threw me surprise birthday party. It was nice and sweet and very thoughtful.
- We started the Saturday Morning Queen of Courts thing because why should the guys have all the fun?
- Brunch & Bingo at CNP made me realize how much I love to play (and win) at bingo.
- I introduced several people to pickleball through the fun monthly Newbie Night events.
Besides the tournaments at CNP, I also played in some other fun ones in town:
- Frozen Pickleballs – which was early in the year before COVID hit.
- Bob Jackson Tournament – like Frozen Pickleballs, this was another tournament held to help raise money for light at Edgemoor.
I suppose now that I look back on it, the year wasn’t a total disaster. I had a lot of fun hanging out with my pickleball buds. Over the summer, we enjoyed pool pickleball at Brooke’s house. Our videos actually went somewhat viral on Facebook. LOL. And in the fall, a bunch of us had dinner together at Woodfire Grille (surprisingly, none of us got COVID from that event). I also had a great time hanging out with the gang when Noi (Michael’s friend who lives in Tennessee who is now my friend also) came to visit.
Other non-pickleball things that happened include:
- Jenni’s Wedding – yes, she’s finally married!
- Our New Mailbox – we’d been thinking about it for a while and with not taking any trips, we had an extra grand to spend on it.
- Online/Virtual Mixology – I didn’t even know this was a thing until we did it for work.
Okay, so we didn’t avoid trips altogether. We just didn’t fly anywhere. We took some roadtrips this year and that was a departure from our usual but pretty fun overall. We drove to the Eureka Lake Waterfall and Coronado Heights Castle, within the state. We also went on a roadtrip to Eureka Springs in Arkansas where we stayed in a treehouse. And that was a unique experience.
Lastly, one of the best things to come out of 2020 (and this is going to make me sound like a lush) — to go booze!!! Admit it, y’all are happy about it too.
If this trip down memory lane wasn’t enough for you, you can review what happened in 2019 (we had so many fun trips that year) and also look back at 20 years worth of blogs. Anyway, as with these recap posts, I don’t have any pictures for you. There are plenty in the embedded links for you to enjoy if you click on them, though. Until next time. GNG.
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