My 2020

Dear Writing.Com friends,

2020 has been quite a gripping year.

It started off with an acting gig at my old elementary school. I kept in contact with my second grade teacher and occasionally performed puppet and character shows for her class and others. This particular gig had me performing as the Cat in the Hat for her class, however I made the mistake of getting to the school on my bike with my costume on. My tail got caught in my back wheel. I could not get it unstuck. I had to walk back home and cut off the part that was stuck. I thought I would need a new bike, however I was able to get enough of the tail out that my bike was still usable. My tail is now a few inches shorter. I was a bit late because of all this, but my teacher understood. I caught a ride to the school and did the gig, where I read the kids Dr. Seuss books and played games with them. Afterwards some of them came up and hugged me, and the teacher gave me a book of thank you notes the kids had written from the last show I did for them. My teacher just retired today after over 30 years at the school. I hope I can still do shows for the classes of the other teachers when that is allowable again.

In March I got to perform my own show at the puppet theater for the first time. I took a video of one of my school gigs and showed it to the president of the theater. She enjoyed it so much she invited me to perform it there. My good friend/adopted sister is a regular performer there and I have helped with most of her shows. This time she helped me by teaching me how to set up the lights and sound. While I didn't get the school groups I had been hoping for I still had over 100 people come and see my show that week. I hope to do it again when the theater reopens.

Later in March, my home state of California went into lockdown like many other parts of the world. I became furloughed from my day job and as of December have not been called back to work. I have passed the time learning to read piano music and making artwork and virtual shows. I also rejoined W.Com and wrote several stories, including "Love in the Time of the Pandemic Part 1"   by The Puppet Master which I consider to be my best work to date.

In May I discovered a leak in my bathroom ceiling that had made a lot of mold and I had to move out of my condo while the whole bathroom was redone. My parents let my cat and I stay with them while the work got done. During this time my mom started going to church with me, which has been wonderful. While the situation was a pain in the rear, God used it for good by having it inspire my mom to come back to church, and my new bathroom is beautiful.

In October I had a blast helping paint/act in a haunted house at a local church. It was my 15th year acting in a haunt. I used to do a haunt that ran from 2001-2011 and 2013-2014 before it closed. Having been out of haunts since 2014 I was thrilled to be back at it.

Now, in December, California is in lockdown again. I look forward to it being lifted sometime early next year. I hope 2021 will see the return of normalcy and that I will get to swing dance and travel again.

Sincerely,

PM

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