And yet, despite the 2020-ness of it all, we have emerged happy and healthy, ready to celebrate a quiet solo holiday season here in Atlanta. No lessons were learned from our 22 pound Thanksgiving turkey, so we plan to forge ahead into the winter eating season with a full refrigerator and even fuller bellies.
Our year was probably a lot like yours, tucked away at home in business attire exclusively from the waist up. While we missed traveling and going out to eat, we have taken great joy in staying even better connected than we were before with friends throughout the country through all manner of virtual happy hours, virtual card games, and even a virtual food and wine festival.
On the home front, we have settled into a routine of work from home meetings, long walks, leisurely reading, biking, and elaborate home cooked meals.
In June, Bridget completed her MBA from the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs) and continues to work as a manager of ecommerce at The Home Depot where she has taken great pride in building a diverse team of Home Depot’s next all stars. Much to his surprise and delight, she has endured the never ending tide of dirty dishes created by Ben’s cooking endeavors with a smile and a sturdy sponge.
Ben was promoted earlier this year to manager of UPS’s Retail Strategy team, making (an extremely small) contribution to helping to get all of those Christmas presents to your house this year. Early into the pandemic, he figured out a way to take meetings from the Peloton and hasn’t looked back since.
As we enter 2021 with renewed hope in our hearts, we look forward to cautiously tiptoeing back out into the world around us when the time is right, ready to enjoy the wonderful friends we have made here in Atlanta, the wonderful sights and sounds of the city we have called home for five years, and (eventually) our proximity to one of the world’s busiest airports for some further flung adventures.
Until then, we wish you and your families a safe, healthy, and very merry Christmas and a very very very happy New Year.
With love,
Bridget and Ben Schultz
A Promised Land by Barack Obama
The Man Who Ate Too Much by John Birdsall
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John Le Carre
Travels With Charlie In Search Of America by John Steinbeck
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
You Think It I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Schitt's Creek
The Queen's Gambit
The Crown
ER (We went back to watch it and it's still good!)
The Morning Show