This has been a weird year, and I have to say I have never been as anxious to see a year go into the books as 2020. However, I have to admit that, on reflection, Andrea (Miss Andy to our friends) and I were more prepared for 2020 than most.

I am often confronted with a new challenge when it comes to repairs around our family farm. Much of the machinery and buildings we own were purchased or constructed when I was in elementary school.

There are a good many lessons I learned hoeing tobacco. One thing I learned early on was: If you picked out the lightest hoe, so it would be easier to carry, you soon found out the lack of weight meant you had to work harder to cultivate the soil.

My wife, Andrea, and I have been married for 35 years now; we’ve been blessed to have a nice home and family. Like many couples, we have had our ups and downs, but fortunately, the ups covered up the few downs nicely. Like many of you, 2020 has been an unusual year, to say the least; however, our most challenging year by far was 1998. That was the year we both reinvented ourselves.