COVID-19

These are challenging times to say the least.  I have never experienced anything like this global pandemic in my nearly 57 years.  My brother sent me an e-mail recently and commented that this will be the defining event of our generation, much like the great depression and the World Wars defined generations before ours.  The events of 911 were kind of like this, but I think this time around it's more extensive.  I think he's right with this comment.  Once we move on beyond this, there will be a new normal, and life will be forever changed.  On a positive note, the virus is not deadly to the vast majority of those it infects.  But to those at risk it is a huge deal.  We have one of those high risk individuals living in our house.  Helena, with her heart defects, is at major risk of serious problems if she comes down with it.  In light of that, we all have to be extremely vigilant.  I have numerous other friends and acquaintances that fall into similar categories.  Age, cancer and transplant patients, heart conditions, diabetes, and various other health conditions are all of major concern.  It bothers me somewhat that many people, particularly younger ones, don't take this seriously enough.  If we can get this under control now, before it erupts and exponentially infects a major portion of our population, there is some hope.  But without the cooperation of virtually everyone, the odds don't look very good.  Much better to err on the side of overreaction, and then look back on things in that light, then to be faced with the alternative...!

I'm grateful that I sold my company when I did as I escaped the fallout from this disaster.  Fortunately I have not yet invested the proceeds of the sale, so I was not subjected to the market meltdown.  That said, I have a significant portion of my life's savings invested in the market from prior to the sale.  That was the money that I was expecting to live off of when I retire, and it just took a 40% haircut.  But, so far that is just on paper, as I did not panic and sell anything.  So hopefully the recovery is sustained and moderately quick and I don't take too much of a beating.

Despite that fact that I no longer own the company, it still can't function without me.  I am obliged to continue to toil there and help the new ownership through the transition, and through this current disaster.  Just when it looked as though we were beginning to emerge from the winter slowdown, this epidemic hit and destroyed the financial landscape and crippled life as we know it.  There has not been much to do in recent weeks and labor costs were draining the company.  Now it is even worse as there is virtually nothing going on.  We are beginning to send staff home, and will have to rely on some of the government bailouts to carry the company through.  At the moment I am still working regular hours but it would not surprise me if we shut things down and go into isolation in the coming days.  By the end of this week we should have a little better idea what is going on.