Life Update — 12/25/20

With the changing of the seasons comes time to reflect…

What a wild year it’s been.

I didn’t expect anything that happened this year to happen — if that makes sense. I didn’t plan on changing jobs, I didn’t plan on moving out to a new city, and I didn’t plan on spending so much time at home due to a certain virus (much less catch the damn thing). So it’s been pretty wild. All of it.

I’m happy though, with the results that this year has brought for me and my family. I feel like a better me, a goal I’ve long strived for. The feeling was the hardest part. I could always make an argument for why I was a ‘better’ person, but I would never feel like it was true — until now. I think that has taken the most time to achieve.

At work, things are looking good. I’m growing in my role as a network engineer, I’ve started tackling new responsibilities, and I’m even getting to work on things I wouldn’t have had a chance to do at any job prior to this. It’s exciting! What I know now would have thrown off the me from last year. Diving into firewalls, SD-WAN, VOIP, seeing automation firsthand, and taking a crack at Azure… the learning never ends — and that’s a wonderful thing.

Speaking of learning…

My Wife and my sisters have continued with their studies for the CCNA. It’s awesome seeing their progress as they get through the OCG and online courses (mostly CBT Nuggets and some Udemy). My little sister picked up a new laptop and downloaded PacketTracer. It’s very cool to see them get into it.

The physical lab has made its way into my office and the other day I showed my Wife how to use Putty and console into the devices. It was really cool designing a small lab and having her work through the CLI to get everything set up and running. I couldn’t help but smile when those pings started back successfully.

The lab we pieced together. Many good times lie ahead of us.

For now, I am grateful that my Wife and kids are healthy, and with all the things this year has tossed on everyone, we’ve made it. We had a great holiday season and are ready for the new year.

It’s always around this season that I stop and ask, “What will life be like next year?”

That single question keeps me looking forward to the future.