Reflections on a year past

BY Shirley Warren

It is December 31, 2020 and I am working from home as I have been doing for a while, until our new offices are built out at the new shop.  We won't have a waiting room until then either, but we are in the thick of a rampant Covid 19 spike and we would rather keep the staff, delivery people and customers distanced as much as possible anyways.

What a year it has been.  Never would I have thought of our work fixing, refurbishing and restoring Land Rovers, Toyotas and Jeeps as a good distraction.  Before 2020, I have always thought of what we do for a living as providing service and frankly, work.

During the lock down, the team agreed that it was good fortune to be deemed essential workers allowing us to come in an go to work every day.  We adapted our practices to having no contact drop offs and pick ups, washed our hands obsessively and got as used to wearing face masks as much as we ever would.  Until we could actually buy face makes, we moved around covering our faces with bandanas with various designs to suit our personalities.

As much as there has been difficulties brought about by Covid, I will always be grateful for this year.  Along with modifying our standard practices, we also practiced some things that we may not have been given the opportunity to do. 

As a team, along with vintage and modern classic vehicle enthusiasts and out of warranty more recent Land Rover drivers we practiced more patience than we ever have, as we adapted to changing how we interact.  We got to witness resilience as we faced economic uncertainty and came out of the state of shock after hearing that we were living with a world wide pandemic.  We became closer as a team and a community and appreciated our interactions far beyond what we once thought of as normal.

It seems obvious that our world have forever changed in 2020.  In our little microcosm we so often refer to as  "the shop", some of the changes that have come about are worthy of embrace.  Work became a privilege, team members became like family, the shop was no longer just where we work, but a welcome destination not off limits to us during the pandemic.

My wish for everybody is that one year from now,  that we still carry the gifts worthy of embrace that came out of surviving the pandemic and 2020 together, with us into the future.  When we look back, there will certainly be sad memories, they can not be denied, but hopefully the hidden gifts will remain clear and we will have always have something to be grateful for looking back at this past year.

One of our tag lines that we use often is that we fix people's problems and build people's dreams, after this last year I can say that our work on some level has done the same for the individuals we collectively refer to as our team.

For all of our customers, collaborators, team member and individuals everywhere, may the year 2021 be blessed with peace, love, happiness and good health.