Dear reader,

Wow you might ask. Why the optimism? We feel like things are more uncertain and unsettled than we can ever remember. We are more frustrated and anxious as many of life’s anchors have been pulled from their moorings and we find ourselves drifting, longing to get back to our true north, in control and back to a sense of normalcy.

We have come to expect that we go to work, kids go to school, we go out to eat and visit our families. Our expectations are that summers fills our lungs with fresh air and thaws our bodies from the winter chill. Summer is a time for festivals and the beach. We have come to know that spring means Brewers baseball and fall means Packers.

However, over the last three or four months, things we took for granted are no longer. Just as we start feeling the possibility that we can get back to life as normal, we are saddened by images on our TV of a man killed while in police custody and the outrage that soon followed, played out in our cities across the country.

But in this uncertainty, there are points of commonality. The global pandemic affected all of us and we had in many ways a shared experience, not only to those locally but could appreciate how people in Italy, England, India or any other places were similarly affected and no longer exercising their normal routines. Lock downs were prevalent to protect the vulnerable and we offered our normalcy as a gift to those more at risk. Our creativity came out as we looked for games to play or maybe even created new ones, movies to watch we have not watched three times already and how to appreciate nature more by sitting next to windows for fresh air and a change of view.

Even in the case of the George Floyd whose life was so needlessly taken in Minneapolis, there is a common sense of outrage and empathy for him and his family not only locally but globally.

These are but two recent examples that have jolted us from our individual needs and rituals, and remind us of not only what divides us but that which we have so much in common.

So as we emerge from our post pandemic slumber, things may be different than when we lost control of our daily habits. But different does not necessarily mean bad or worse. As much as things are uncertain, new shoots of promise are sprouting. Many of us will reengage with a new sense of purpose, vitality and direction. New skills and habits will now become part of the new us. Zoom calls with family, remote work and online learning may have become necessary due to the pandemic but could root themselves in our daily lives. Trends which may have taken years to normalize in society were compressed into months.

So as we look forward, there is a reason to be optimistic that the future will be bright. Warren Buffet, maybe the most successful investor ever recently said when asked about the current situation and the future said “Never bet against America”. His perspective is longer term and he has always invested knowing that the new dawn always follows the dusk.

I am certain, things will return to normal and we again will have a chance to enjoy a future filled with hope and welcome surprises.

Patrick Wood

Publisher