1995

1995

As I write this column, 2020 is coming to a welcome close. A year that began with excitement for our 25th reunion and other adventures certainly turned out differently than any of us could have predicted. If you summed up 2020 in 12 words or less, what would you say? My take: “Disruption brought awakening, appreciation, invention, reinvention, and a need for better wi-fi.” Alexandra Love wrote: “I realized I really like spending time with my family.” From Lou Spelios, “Working from home is the best! The best Jerry—the best!” Lisa Catmull “wrote three novels and self-published on Amazon. Thank you, free time.” And from Pam Brockmeier Armstrong: “Never has asking ‘How are you?’ felt so important, fraught, or ludicrous.” So true.

I realize that most of our 2020 journeys require more than 12 words. Shara Frase shared that the pandemic prompted her to make a big leap and (more or less) go into business for herself. “Right after the new year I will join Boersch & Illovsky, a small partnership in Oakland, California. Still doing all the stuff I love—criminal defense, internal corporate investigations, and a teaspoon here and there of civil litigation—but steering my own ship, so to speak. My kids, Bobby (3) and Shana (1), are somehow managing to thrive despite the many lockdowns and playground closures. We look forward to the end of this insanity and, I hope, all three of us coming to the next reunion.”

Sean McSweeney found a significant silver lining duringthe pandemic. “IhadbeeninLos Angeles since the late 1990s, but when the pandemic broke out my wife and I decided to throw all of our stuff from the house in storage and got out of town. Since the kids are doing virtual school and our work is essentially also virtual for now, we figured we can be just about anywhere. We got an Airbnb on five acres in the woods around Shasta, way up in the northern part of California for four months and now we are in the central coast wine country for the next six months, basically hiding out during the pandemic. We’ll head back to L.A. when things get back to normal. In the meantime, we have had a chance to spend an incredible amount oftime in the national parks, surfing at the beach, going to vineyards, going rock climbing, and doing other things that we just couldn’t have done while in L.A. We are doing work Zoom meetings from the beach so metimes o r working half day and then heading to the mountains in the afternoon.” Sean is running a healthcare startup called Apache Health.

Sara Wasserbauer’s 2020 reflection: “My medical office employs about 20 people, and it became clear that most of these people were the main breadwinners for their families. We had to find a way to keep things going when everything was just shutting down.” Her silver lining? “Spending time with my children and realizing how much I miss seeing people! We were blessed and we didn’t even know it. I started regularly meditating—it has been wonderful! Plus, I got another dog.” And she most looks forward to “escape rooms, which is paradoxical in that I am looking forward to escaping to an escape room.”

Whatever you look forward to, I hope you find it in 2021. And keep an eye out for Big League Chew. Ifthere’s a dog on the label, it may be Moose Fagell, Steve and Phyllis Fagell’s pet and now Big League Chew’s dog ofthe year!

Keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes. 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes