{"id":23616,"date":"2021-01-27T17:09:24","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T23:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brubakers.us\/?p=23616"},"modified":"2021-01-28T12:01:49","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T18:01:49","slug":"2020-recap-better-late-than-never","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/?p=23616","title":{"rendered":"2020 Recap – Better Late Than Never"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve noticed that it is now the end of January and I still haven\u2019t posted my normal end of year recap. I\u2019ve 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<\/a> 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<\/a> (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\u2019s positive things that happened too. Inspired by her optimism, I sought out to recall all the positive things that happened last year. <\/p>\n

First, I finally bit the bullet and started pickleball lessons<\/a>. Mom and dad also picked up pickleball last year and, as a present, I got them a lesson with my favorite pickleball teacher too<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>, I remember thinking I finally got what I wanted because I\u2019d been gradually trying to get rid of Zumba classes to free up more time for pickleball. <\/p>\n

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<\/a> to stay connected with my Zumba family. The ZOOMba<\/a> kept me active during the month I wasn\u2019t teaching classes at the gyms and wasn\u2019t playing pickleball but it wasn\u2019t the same. By the time the stay at home order was lifted, I was so ready to be around people again. <\/p>\n

I resumed playing pickleball but decided not to plunge back into teaching a bajillion Zumba classes. I only brought back one class \u2013 my Monday night Zumba class at VASA. Pickleball became my primary outlet for all of my pent up energy and frustrations.<\/p>\n

Some of the pickleball milestones from last year include the first anniversary of our local pickleball Facebook group<\/a> and my officially becoming a USA Pickleball ambassador<\/a>. I\u2019d 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. <\/p>\n

Anyway, lots of fun pickleball-related stuff happened last year. I got to participate in my very first Nahola league<\/a> (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<\/a> and did pretty well in most of them<\/a>. This is on top of my regular Friday night at Nahola<\/a> and Sunday morning mixed play at the park<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Speaking of the park, Seneca was the place to be this past summer<\/a> besides Chicken N Pickle, of course. CNP is like my second home and where several clinics and other fun pickleball events happened.<\/p>\n