2021 Year in Review

Every year I write a year in review. This may be one of the shortest ones I’ve produced. The pandemic is still very much here and as we approach the end of the year, the omicron variant is spreading like crazy. Sometimes, it seems like it will never end. So a lot of 2021 was spent indoors and my Facebook feed was filled mostly with memories of past years rather than events of the present. Two things kept me sane: Cats and photography.?

Last year, a cat that we thought was a stray kept appearing on our doorstep. He was very friendly and we fell in love immediately. He invited himself into our home and started to meow at the door for us every morning. If we didn’t answer the door, he’d climb onto the roof and meow into our bedroom window. He have a nap on my lap every morning while I drank my morning coffee. Then one day the neighbor came by and said, “Have you seen my cat?” His name was Jersey. Anne had already named him Tiger and I called him Verbal. He basically lived on our deck or in our house (we’d let him in when we felt the neighbors weren’t looking), until the neighbors moved this year… likely because of their crazy neighbors who kept stealing their cat.?

After Jersey/Tiger/Verbal had gone we had to get a cat of our own. First came Indu, a beauty black kitten with a white patch on his chest. He had a rough start in life and was terrified of people. He would crawl in behind my vanity, get into the drawer, and sleep with the toilet paper for weeks.?

Then came Minou. She was only 12 weeks old when we got her and she was just born to be loved.?

We’ve never had cats before so everything they do is novel and delightful. We’ve turned into old cat ladies and pretty much talk about our cats all the time. Whodda thought?!?

About the only time I’d leave the house this year was to do photography or videography. Shoots were the only excuse I had to leave the house and be social. I had the opportunity to shoot two dance performances by In the Wings Aerial. I had always wanted to film dance, but this was my first opportunity. It was challenging, but a lot of fun. One of my pieces was accepted into a dance film festival.?

I tried to get at least one or two photoshoots in each week, so I could get out and see people. This is my second year doing photography and I’m just a little obsessed. I’m delighted that I get to work with such a wonderfully creative community.?

Not only did I shoot, but I actually modeled as well. I do a lot of art nude photography and I ask my models to be vulnerable, so it was only fitting that I walk in their shoes. I did some modeling when I was dancing professionally, but that was decades ago. I modeled, not to try to find acceptance from others, but as an exercise in accepting myself and my aging body. They’ve been rewarding experiences and I appreciate the opportunity of being shot by some talented photographers. I even got to pose with one of my favorite models.?

I did manage a couple of trips during the year. I went to Erik Dalton’s Oklahoma City workshop to take videos and photos in July. It was weird being around so many unmasked people. But we thought the worst of COVID was over and everyone was feeling optimistic. I’ve been out of the massage limelight for quite a few years, so it was really nice to be able to reconnect with old friends and some new ones!?

Then in September, I made it back to Canada to visit with family. I hadn’t been back since the end of 2018. Between my immigration situation and COVID, it just wasn’t possible. So it was really nice to reconnect with friends and hang out with my mom.?

On the business front, if I’m honest, it was a bit of a frustrating year, but we finally officially launched our digital publishing company, Massage Mastery Online. After a big splash last year with the release of our first digital textbook, Preventing Disease Transmission in a Massage Practice (about 17,000 people picked up a copy) in the spring of 2019, we had to put everything on hold while we fixed website issues. It’s the most complicated development I’ve ever been through with lots of functionality for bookstores, school administrators, instructors, and students. We went through a number of developers, several of whom were impacted by COVID, either directly or indirectly.

We finally felt that the site was stable enough that we could officially launch in November. Hallelujah! On a positive note, the textbooks we offer are absolutely beautiful. They are not just printed books published online. They are designed specifically for the online medium. The instructional design is based on best practices. And they are visually rich with video, images, interactive features, and more. They are incredibly engaging.

I’ve always been at the forefront of innovation in the massage profession and Anne and I are poised to change massage education. These are so unique that once schools start using them, they will never see textbooks in the same way again.?