What would make a boss give an unexpected negative annual performance review when they had plenty of opportunity throughout the year to give feedback?

What would make a boss give an unexpected negative annual performance review when they had plenty of opportunity throughout the year to give feedback?

I’ve been in my current position for nearly four years now. The woman I work for is, for the most part pleasant, but a little on the controlling and seemingly passive aggressive side. I had been warned by others that she was that way but never experienced it firsthand. Since the pandemic, we have been working remotely. My boss lady likes to have two check in meetings via Zoom per week. During these meetings, I never received any negative feedback or implications that I should be doing better. We receive our annual reviews in January. Imagine my surprise when my boss lady goes over my review and for the overall rating, I am only partially meeting her expectations! I was totally shocked! She never said anything to me during our 2x weekly Zoom meetings and her critiques on the performance review were vague. I asked her for examples, right then and there and she couldn’t think of any. She said she would send me a list after the review, but never did. We had a few weeks after the review period to write a response, but my husband talked me out of it. His rationale is, since boss lady is retiring at the end of the year, don’t worry she’ll be gone next year anyways. He doesn’t want me to make any waves since I carry the family’s health insurance through my job. It still eats at me and I wish I would have written a rebuttal to her review, if just for the record. Why would she suddenly flip the script on me like that?