July 26, 2019.  Life was good one year ago.  I was busy planning road trips for the upcoming Columbus Blue Jackets season to Chicago, Saint Louis, Florida, California, Vegas, and Nashville.  I ended up canceling the trip to California and Vegas, but the ones that I took were fun.  But 67 days later, my life would change drastically.  Coming home from a run at my health club, I found my mom on the kitchen floor after having had a stroke.  I called 911 an had her taken to the emergency room, where it was hurry up and wait and I didn't get home until midnight.  Unfortunately, she passed away 72 days later and I realized that I had nobody to depend on but myself.  I've made some mistakes along the way and put off things that I should have taken care of sooner.  In that time, I've acquired ownership of the car that I've been driving since 2013 and the house(and 58 years of accumulated junk)that I grew up in and never left.

     While I was wrapping my mind around all that, Covid-19 hit, and the state was shut down and I was cut off from in-person human contact, which did a number on my mental health.  I was off work from late March until mid-April(with pay)and had to find ways to pass the time.  Things are finally starting to return to normal and I've settled into a routine and overcome a bit of anxiety about the doors being locked and the lights being off.  I know that the title of this blog is "Adventures in Home Ownership", but I wanted to talk about where I came from in the past year.  My next post will include more about my family and myself as well as a garage and basement cleanout and the start of a house cleanout, as well as a change in my work routine.  Thank you for reading.