Bolden-Greer Christmas Update
Friends and Family,
Honestly, most of these holiday letters open with, “Can you believe another year has flown by so fast?” But given the problems we have all faced in 2020, we mostly just wished it would be over! We hope this Holiday Season finds you healthy, happy, and semi-sane. With the addition of COVID-19, what would have been an extremely challenging and eventful year for us under normal circumstances turned out to be something akin to the dumpster juice you find after it rains behind a restaurant. Regardless, COVID was the equivalent of throwing a really big wrench into a properly functioning (if overly taxed), well-oiled machine forcing us to reset our expectations.
We know this year has been difficult for everyone. We have spoken with many of you about the hardships you have faced due to a year where you couldn’t work, couldn’t play, and at times literally couldn’t leave the house. All said we think this is an excellent opportunity to appreciate what we do have. In the darkest times, candles glow their brightest. So let us enter this Holiday season with hope in our hearts and gratitude on our tongues. Honestly, there’s so much for which we can be thankful.
We spent last Christmas vacationing with the family at Myrtle Beach, living our definition of paradise. As we gathered on the beach, we wondered at the beautiful waves crashing against the white sandy shore, the cool salty breeze, the soft grit beneath our toes, and the overwhelming love we felt from family. This holiday season is bound to be so very different than that. Covid-19 will bring significant change to how we define our holidays this year, but we expect there will be smaller gatherings, and for those of you who prefer bigger holiday parties, we ask you to be safe and wait till next year. We make it a habit to remind ourselves of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
To everything, there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, And a time to die;
A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;
A time to kill, And a time to heal;
A time to break down, And a time to build up;
A time to weep, And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, And a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain, And a time to lose;
A time to keep, And a time to throw away;
A time to tear, And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;
A time to love, And a time to hate;
A time of war, And a time of peace.
We both truly miss spending time with all of you, but please know that you are in our hearts and prayers. We often think of all of you and look forward to seeing you this coming year at our little October shindig — but more on that in a bit.
As we reflect on 2020, we discovered one exceptional lesson that we will carry with us long after this season is over. We’ve learned to acknowledge that nobody succeeds alone. As our chosen family, we need each of you! Despite everything that has happened this year, we’ve had some really great times, and you’ve helped make some amazing memories. We want to thank all of you for being a part of our life and the positive effects you’ve given us this past year.
Despite a literal plague, we consider this year’s news…mostly good. We want to share with you some of the things we’ve experienced this year. No doubt Covid-19 will be an event that will affect all of us for a long time. We’ve talked about it a lot so far, so we will keep this part brief.
In March, as we all became more aware of the severity of the impending crisis, Eddie had to make the hard decision to temporarily close the school. His heart was heavy when he told our leadership team before making the announcement on the morning of March 23, but he was positive it was the right thing to do. Later that same day, we would find out that Knox County, the City of Knoxville, and the State of Tennessee were mandating closure for all non-essential businesses by the end of the week. We acted quickly to furloughed all of our employees and shut down the school and clinic as planned. Eddie then spent the next couple of weeks helping all of our employees apply for and get their unemployment. When he finished and was attempting to register himself, the system crashed with only partial data, and it couldn’t be fixed. Thank God I was approved, and we had savings.
We took about three days off, and then we got stir crazy, so we spent time finishing the installation of the new flooring in the clinic’s treatment rooms. In early April, we were given the go-ahead to begin teaching virtual classes. First, it’s important to note that many people are reluctant to contemplate virtual learning as massage is literally a hands-on profession. We knew that Tennessee was about to allow massage schools to have a portion of their curriculum online. Over the past eighteen months, we researched learning management systems, knowing that distance training would very shortly be a reality. With no infrastructure in place, we quickly moved to purchase the tools we would need. We spent the next week running through many different arrangements of projectors, cameras, televisions, and online resources, all while developing an online version of the curriculum and material necessary to teach our program in a virtual format. We spent the next two months teaching two classes a day, four days a week. To be honest, we mostly felt overwhelmed, as if we were building the tracks just before the train got to them. On May 11, the mandate was lifted, and we were able to reopen. We are so very thankful for our wonderfully patient and understanding staff, faculty, and students.
As we alluded to earlier, we were in the middle of massive renovations to the School. In June of 2019, we began a huge renovation of the School’s clinic. The renovations required removing existing walls, moving doors, replacing all flooring, painting, and adding offices, new treatment rooms, and additional storage. All toll, completely renovating the clinic should have taken about three months, yet it stretched on for nearly ten months. Over budget and significantly behind schedule, the contractor left us to pick up the slack. We quickly had to hire painters and sheet rockers. We jumped in, and from January until March, we set aside seven nights to re-floor all of the rooms being updated. Each night we spent hours on our hands and knees, measuring and re-measuring for cutting, locking, sliding, and (sometimes) gluing the planks into place. We finally managed to finish the last of the renovations around 3:40 a.m. on March 15 to close down on March 23. We learned a great lesson. Hire people that you know to have a proven track record. We owe many thanks to Marty Hawkins, David King, Jon McCurdy, and the entire staff that helped us make things right.
Simultaneously, we began finalizing our design and plans for some home renovations in anticipation of putting the house on the market. Out of necessity, we had to temporarily put our home renovation plans on hold to focus on the school’s reopening and waiting for our favorite contractor Josh Kimsy to be available. So at the start of November, we took a short vacation to Gatlinburg to allow Josh and his team to renovate our master bath. The bathroom looks great, adding a modern visual esthetic and significantly increasing our comfort level.
Perhaps the most eventful thing we did this year was to get engaged. We have elaborated extensively about that day and the preceding weeks in our blog, but a brief review. In February, I had begun planning an eventful tour of the Gatlinburg area with the intent to grandly present the ring at the end of the trip and pop that all-important question. When Covid struck, it derailed all those plans altogether. We spent the next few months working and sleeping, sleeping, and working…when we weren’t working.
Eventually, Eddie decided we were heading toward burnout and needed a break. So he surprised me with a quick little get-away to a cabin in Gatlinburg. Looking back on the schedule, it was the very same weekend I had originally planned for the engagement. All of a sudden, I realized my plans were back on! I immediately got nervous, desperately thinking through all the possible ways I could pull together such a momentous moment in the meager hours I had to plan. I decided the Ferris Wheel would be the place. Eddie loves Ferris Wheels! I began thinking over “how” to ask and what I would say. Excitedly, Saturday, June 7 came around. I fretted the impending rainstorm, losing the ring in my pocket, and Eddie’s insistence that the Pepper Palace and Puzzle store was far more important than the planned ride of the Ferris Wheel. After a late start to the day, an overly long lunch, an interminable trip through all the stores, and a last-minute potty break, we finally got to the ride, and I started a full-blown sweat. After a short wait in line and a few minutes to mentally rehearse, we got in our air-conditioned pod, and I began my little speech, ultimately popping the question. Thankfully it was a long ride because we both needed the time to compose ourselves. Happy tears flowed, and we began letting people know that he said “yes.” The rest of our trip was taken up with lengthy discussions with some of you about the nature and possible plans for the wedding.
Speaking of the wedding…most of the planning is done. A few last-minute items, like the cake and some logistics, still need to be worked through, but for the most part, we are really looking forward to sharing this season of our life with our family and friends. (Most of the details regarding the wedding can be here in our blog or on the website.)
Before we end, we would like to take a moment to remember those we hold dear that have left us over this past year. Some of them passed suddenly, others after a long fight with various illnesses, but we will remember and honor all of them with fondness and deep abiding love.
Wishing everyone happiness and health in the new year; may 2021 be merry and bright! If, in your travels, you find yourselves in or near Knoxville, Tennessee, give us a call. We would love to have you visit.
Hugs, smiles, and good health,
Jeryd and Eddie