2020 is a year of tremendous CHANGE for us. It started off with a tremendous amount of business spread across a large number of existing and new clients. Between Gabe and myself, we were both busy every day, which is a rarity. Usually, we would have a day here and there where there was a lull that we could use to keep up with housekeeping. The 2016 RAM ProMaster could still look brand new with a good wash. The inside could be freshened up and our bins could be refilled with everyday use parts.
Not this year! By the end of January, we were knee-deep into a couple of large projects and trying to figure out what to do when Gabe leaves. That’s right, Gabe is now living in Virginia with his WIFE! This has been planned since earlier last year.
It was planned for February 21st to be his last day. As you may know, Gabe was in the National Guard for about 6 years and is retired as of March 1, 2020. He rose to become a Seargent in the heavy truck. Gabe’s new wife, Kristen was also in the National Guard in PA, where they met. She spent some time as a Chaplain and then transitioned to the regular Army in early 2019 for a three year duty assignment. She is now a Lieutenant in the US Army and is stationed in Joint Base Langley–Eustis in Newport News, VA. She is a platoon leader and works in Logistical; support. Her duty ends in about two years when they plan to come back to PA to settle down.
Gabe and Kristen were married on Saturday March 14th, 2020. They had planned to leave on a cruise a few days later. Well, we all know what happened next. NO CRUSES! They have been sequestered in their apartment every since. Kristen is on-call but pretty much working from home.
In trying to figure out how to work without Gabe, I have tried several other people in the few weeks prior to the quarantine starting and they just don’t measure up to Gabe. <BEGIN Rhetorical>How do you find someone, who is clean-cut, shows military respectfulness to clients, fast-learner, strong, great with tools and can work with very little direction. <END Rhetorical>
If you know someone that is handy (age doesn’t matter), that may be interested, I’d be happy to talk with him or her and see if we can work together. My health is preventing me from jumping back in too soon. With at least three, even four of the “underlying conditions” that when combined with Covid19 cause death, I will be holding back from too much personal interaction until this pandemic is behind us.
For the foreseeable future, I will need to be very careful about people I interact with. Before visiting your home, I will have to ask things like:
- Has anyone that will be home when I am there been ill in the past two weeks OR been near someone else that showed any signs of any colds or flu?
- Is anyone that will be home currently ill or have signs of being ill like fever, headache, flu-like or cold-like symptoms?
I will need to continue wearing a mask and gloves as protection, even when the answers to the questions are all ‘no’. We will both follow and comply with all CDC recommendations for safe distancing and will no longer be shaking hands as a welcome or hello gesture. Do you think that hat-tipping will make a comeback along with drive-in movies? Do you think that winks and nods will be more prevalent soon? We’re not doing the elbow bump or bowing anytime soon either!
We have some projects that were not completed when we were forced to stop work so they will be the first ones that we work on as soon as we can. I can’t put an exact date on when we can begin performing projects again, but it will be during the “green” phase. I will update you as soon as I can.
Thank you for understanding; be safe and best regards,
George