Blame it on the Vodka

Trump impeachment trials were in full swing and 2020 started off like every other new year. But something was amiss. I was in Colorado with my #BFF Ann Rollins, et al, welcoming in the new year 2020. The start of a new decade, a decade we were sure was going to be kick ass. Little did we know what was truly ahead.

Our celebration went without a hitch, that is until we went back to her house and open the trunk of her car. Out flew an unopened bottle of vodka like a barreling Mac truck who’s brakes had been cut crashing onto the driveway with an explosion of vodka and glass flying everywhere. The vodka debacle felt quite foreboding.

To be honest, this event was a bit of a blur in my memory but pictures don’t lie.

I am now convinced that the events of this first day of 2020 set off a butterfly effect. If your not familiar with the butterfly effect, let me provide a short explanation - it’s chaos theory where a small event or change in condition results in a significantly different almost pandemic result. I mean really, what better explanation can we have for the unprecedented events of the past year? We will be talking about this for years. I mean, I bet I’ll be the crazy little old lady in the nursing home telling all the young’ ems about the year the world stood still - like literally.

This year has been packed with so much that the zipper that keeps it altogether exploded, making it hard to focus on any accomplishments of the year. I’m just glad that I survived with my sanity so far.

My year started off with travel as usual. I started the year in Colorado as Trump almost started WW3 by ordering a drone strike on Iranian General Qasem Soleimani; fires burned through Australia, and earthquakes rocked my little island of Puerto Rico on a daily basis. Also a “mysterious respiratory illness was spreading in Wuhan [China]”, according to CDC Director Robert Redfield. Some type of disease was spreading and killing people, they apparently had lost control of some experiment or something to do with bats in Wuhan where SARS has originated. I then made my way to California for an offsite with my team - this would be the last time we would all be together in the same room ??; while Alex Azar of the Department of Health and Human Services brief President Trump who then called him an “alarmist” - like ??. From there I found myself in Virginia meeting with a customer group to assess and strategize. Then DC for another workshop as brexit happened and locust swarmed Africa - things were getting biblical. Then Kobe Bryant died in a tragic accident with his daughter. The sadness in the air was palpable.

February came along, Trump impeachment trials were still going on - this reality show was going long. JLo and Shakira caused ninja moms to lose their shit as they shaked their booties on the Super Bowl stage. I traveled to Nashville for an HBCU conference with students and a stroll around NashVegas as the foreign film Parasite took the Oscar (can I get a woot woot!!). From there, I made my way to ATD TK in San Jose, CA where the highlight was my argument with an Uber driver who got mad that I had ordered a short trip for myself, Ann, and Britney to a TK after party and decided he would charge me double the rate. Exciting times, Ann was mortified. Believe it or not, I then jumped on a plane DC for more customer meetings before heading back home to Seattle. Mid Feb I headed to Louisiana to facilitate a workshop as Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to prison for sex crimes finally ??. While in Lousiana, I took advantage and went to Mardi Gras where there there two deaths by floats - it was insane.

Then March arrived, Australia sadly continued to burn and the world had entered a pandemic state while the USA entered a state of denial - the pandemic would never hit the USA because things never happen on our turf. We aren’t a 3rd wold country. Things only ever happen in other countries - or so many thought. However, we responded by buying toilet paper - tons of it, creating the Great Toilet Paper Panic of 2020 (the week of March 8th kicked this off). Toilet paper sales ballooned to 734% compared to the previous year. This event also exposed a huge kink in the USA supply chain. I began bingeing Tiger King and Schitt’s Creek. Then on March 19th the world began to shutdown - we went into total lockdown. Unemployment levels spiked to all time highs, business were shut down completely - many of these same companies have ceased to exists since. Nature began to celebrate the absence of cars and people on the roads - I swear I saw a unicorn walk down 4th Street in Seattle.

I found myself isolated and alone in Seattle. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo became my hero as he addressed the State of NY on national TV - I watched intently from my tiny 350 sq ft studio in Seattle. No cable, no travel, no other humans to hangout with. Work became a conundrum - we pivoted quickly to support our higher education customers who by sheer will took their classes online in a matter a week (even institutions that were against going online were forced to do so)..

April through July is when the crescendo of 2020 would truly hit. From murder hornets, to celebrating my 50th birthday alone in my tiny apartment in Seattle. My bff, friend, and family surprised me with Zoom parties (it’s a thing now) and gifts delivered to my door. I felt loved, but I also really just needed a hug and someone to tell me it would be ok. I felt myself become a bit more jaded each day that passed.

In May, we experienced the cold blooded murder of George Floyd at the hands of police, then #blm protests organized, riots exuded, white people suddenly feeling they should be doing more [finally] about racism in America. I found people I had never spoken to before reaching out asking me to talk on panels and podcasts about racism and racial inequity - because I’m a non-white, a Hispanic woman, a Latina, an afrodecendiente. It was absolutely exhausting and at times infuriating. Infuriating because I knew that this was just a moment in time for these people - not a movement. Time would pass an they would forget, while I and other non-whites would continue to live our realities.

By June things just got so overwhelming that I took a huge risk and I fled back home to PR, where earthquakes continued to be a daily part of life but I could find some peace in my tiny slice of heaven. I remember wearing two face masks and winter gloves, taking an Uber and then walking through a deserted airport. Watching the few who were there wondering, “why the hell aren’t they wearing a mask?” I became a hermit. By August, I decided to emerge from my mountain and return to Seattle. The world seemed to have lost its mind. This was cemented in reality when a ammonium nitrate explosion happened in Beirut and Kanye West decided to run for president and was backed by Chance the Rapper and Elon Musk??.

Work became a refuge. September shared another blow when Justice Ruth Badger Ginsberg died, she had fought for women’s rights and gender equity in her tenure as a US Justice. Elections neared and the presidential circus hit the road with an insane debate followed by Trump rallying maskless and getting a taste of Covid by testing positive. The world seemed to be in unison finally waiting to see the outcome of this bizarre event. I had tons of questions that went unanswered. In the end, he survived.

I made my way back to Colorado before heading back to Puerto Rico to go back into hiding. The elections happened, record numbers voted by mail, myself included. Biden has been announced as the president elect with Trump unwilling to concede - I expected nothing less.

December has continued with craziness, like many, I’ve lost family members and acquaintances to Covid and other loved ones struggle with different illnesses. December blows continue as I still stand strong. I’m still standing strong and grateful to be able to write this retrospective as I sit in Connecticut in my eldest daughter’s apartment being able to see my three girls, love on them, and see with my own eyes that they are well.

This year has taught me to a huge lesson in gratitude and priorities. Life is short, enjoy the little things, make “I Love You” a part of the conversation, be kind to each other - we’re all going through something, and if you need ever need to find blame, be gentle and blame it on the vodka!