My Annual Reflection – 2020

This year was a surprisingly quick year. It was a mixed bag of good and bad with some personal achievements and loss.

2020 started with a lot of promise. I jumped into the year with a big personal goal – to buy my very own home. It was both scary and exciting at the same time to go through the process of house hunting all alone. Within a couple of weeks, I found it! The biggest source of joy was that I was able to find this little place in the area that I had always wanted to live in, since I heard of this place. After a couple of harrowing weeks of paperwork, I was officially a homeowner on February 10th! It was a huge personal achievement. My boss, Ryan, and team mate, Tim, were a constant support throughout the process – a big thank you to both of them for a lot of advice and guidance!

In March, the whole world was hit with Covid-19 and the world shut down! We were sent to work from home and we have not been back to work since. We were under complete house arrest for almost a month between mid-march and mid-april. I had some pre-moving in work to be done on the house and all that had to be put on hold until we could step out again. In April, I finally got to get the immediate work on the house done and on April 25th, according to Akshaya Tritiya mahurat, I moved into my new home with my pups in tow.

The next couple of months were quiet. A big disappointment in May was that we had to cancel our much awaited trip to Greece because of the covid situation. But, we made the most of being at home by settling into the home. Whisky took to the house instantly and Luca took a few weeks to adjust. But, they both love their new backyard! We have been enjoying our time together in our new house with the privilege of working from home. A major advantage of having moved here is my close proximity to Nancy and Willie. Although I have known Nancy since early 2018, I have become much more close to her in these past few months. Nancy and Willie call me their family now. We meet often. When Nancy bakes or cooks something special, she always keeps some for me. Sometimes she drives over just to drop it off and other times, I go pick it up from her. I am particularly grateful to have them in my life now.

In August this year, we were hit with the loss of Dadu. It was completely unexpected, officially hit by Covid. Babi was positive as well but he recovered. Dadu could not, even with a couple of weeks in the ICU. I lost my last grandparent, the only one that I was close to. Though we fought sometimes due to difference in ideologies, he had a very special role in my life and now, my connection to my mother’s side of the family is gone. It will be extra hard to hold on without that link. It also made me realize that now, it’s just Babi and me.

End of August, I finally got my dream job. I was extremely fortunate to be able to make the jump into Corporate Strategy without having to leave Ford. My struggle for the past 4 years was finally over, thanks mostly to Ryan for getting me the opportunity in the first place. Once I made the jump, I was all gung ho to jump in and start learning but immediately I was hit with a roadblock. I was assigned a project with Alexandra Ford, daughter of the owner of the company! I stayed on this project for 3 months. I was not happy. I was excited but not happy. I felt marginalized and completely useless on a project that was very high profile. I learnt a lot in the three months but for the most part, I was a spectator. It would be a long while before I could actually contribute and that was worrying. In December, I was assigned another high profile project but this time, the team is wonderful. Even though I only spent 2 weeks on this project so far before the holidays hit, I already feel a sense of warmth here. I am confident, things will turn around for me here. While I miss my old team, I am still very much in touch with Tim, having grown very close to him.

My old-old team – Kathy, DarChelle and Sharon are still very much a part of my life and we still stay in touch. Kerry, Sharon and I were supposed to meet this year but their trip to Michigan was cancelled due to Covid. Whisky, Luca and I also made a new friend this year – Anirban Chattopadhyay. He deserves a mention since he has been a constant visitor to our home and he is Luca’s new best buddy! We also made a fall Michigan Trip in October to see the Fall colors of Upper Michigan. It was a trip I had been meaning to make for a while but just couldn’t plan before. Anirban also took us to multiple beaches in Michigan, mostly 1 to 2 hours from home. It’s the most I have seen of Michigan yet! I finally ventured out to see my state! Thanks to Anirban for driving me around!

Another thought worth mentioning, I have just realized that so far in my short career of just under 5 years, I have been extremely fortunate to find really wonderful bosses – Marc Ortega/Alberto Loya, Shari Adair and Ryan Lawson. They were all friendly, approachable and nurturing. I want to thank all of them for thoroughly spoiling me! Now I have a boss who makes me realize that all bosses will not be that nice. I will have to adjust and manage without that support sometimes. It motivates me and teaches me on how I would shape my management style when I get the chance.

Since our trip to Greece was cancelled this year and travel all over the world was hit, I did not get to see Babi this year, in person. We made the most of Facetime with talking twice a day for long hours on a lot of days. We even had a major argument, something we have not had in years.

Overall, this year has been a roller coaster of emotions. With the hope that next year brings more good tidings than bad, here’s wishing all of us a happy 2021!