Note: I have not posted anything here for two months due to a couple of factors: a general lack of personal reading (which is a big stimulus for my writing) and the fact that these last two months have been almost frantically busy, mostly on the business side of things. I should get back to normal soon.
We are grateful that 2021 has been another good year. I hope all of you can say the same.
It was also an eventful year for many reasons. For example, David, our oldest son (22), transitioned from college to the Air Force. He is currently in basic training (boot camp) and then on to school for cyber security. Yes, to the chagrin of his mother, they have boot camp over Christmas. As for me, I am proud and impressed with the opportunity he is getting. I am not joking when I say I am even a bit jealous. Here is a picture from the day we dropped him off.
Kelsey, our oldest daughter (19), pretty much runs my business these days while going to college online (Purdue). She is working on an expansion in the next few months: a new warehouse that will open just south of Salt Lake City in mid-March. I assume she will spend a good amount of time out there over the coming year getting that set up. Here is a video she recently did.
Katelyn is 18, and a senior in high school. She is doing school online and is our social media manager, working about 20 hours/week. She is an artist who is currently obsessed with painting road signs (we don’t ask where she steals gets them). As you can see from this one, she also likes van Gogh.
Zach is our youngest and is a junior in a private high school in the area. He plays basketball and is currently working at a local restaurant.
As for Marla and I, we celebrated 25 years of marriage this year, sort of with a whimper. There were all kinds of timing problems and covid problems that kept us from doing what we wanted to do (an international trip), so we will have to celebrate in 2022 (hopefully).
I am always a bit bemused by end-of-year update letters like this one because they tend to make the most dysfunctional family look like the Bradys. I can assure you that regardless of what I just wrote, we have more than our share of normal issues, problems, and even dysfunction too. I am just not writing about those things. 🙂
One of the conclusions that I came to in 2021 was that I have absolutely no interest in retirement. I love what I do; I love working in my business, improving it and making it more efficient. I like freedom and flexibility but I have no desire to remove the tension of work from my life. I wrote about that a few times in the last year such as here: Retirement: Why FIRE Is Probably a Bad Idea.
So, our plan is that 2022 will look a lot like 2021 except that we will be living in Salt Lake City for a decent chunk of the year. We have a house near our warehouse there and we love the area. We are currently in the process of transitioning from the ski-rental kind of skiers to ski-owner kind of skiers. Even in the summer, there are a zillion things out there that we enjoy doing.
I also plan to read more and write more and begin moving toward speaking more. I am still meandering around in what that will look like, but to give you hints, here are the last five books/lecture series I will admit to consuming:
Nicomachean Ethics (Aristotle)
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Kuhn)
The Great Questions of Philosophy and Physics (Gimble)
Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (Peikoff)
The Dream of Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Philosophy (Gottlieb)
It has become increasingly politically incorrect to say “happy holidays” during this season but I will say it anyway. Remember that whatever you find that makes your holidays special can (and probably should) be extended throughout the next year. I hope you will intentionally choose to do so (with possible exceptions of outdoor holiday lights and overeating 🙂 )
There are many things in life that we cannot control; any level of humility tells us that. But as much as is possible, resolve to live well in 2022. We will do likewise.
