Adios 2020: Ye Shall Not Be Missed

 For those of you who have followed this blog for some time, you would be expecting my end of the year recap here. I pondered a lot if I should do one or not. And to be honest, I really don't want to reminisce on many things that happened this year. Setting COVID-19 aside, there's a number of other things that occurred, both to me and the world, that would've made this year forgettable. So I'm not going to do one. Simple as that. Instead, I will write about things I look forward to hopefully in 2021 and for sure post COVID. But...I do want to point out two things that did happen to me this year that were amazing.

I was in a rough spot in 2017. I was a year out of college, no job in sight, my Australia trip looking like it wasn't going to happen, and I was down to less than $100 to my name. But God showed me his grace and provided me with a job. It was only supposed to be 18 months, but 7 months in, my company switched my recruiter and made my contract renewable, meaning unless I did something catastrophic, my contract would be renewed every year. Then, after being employed for 3 years and 2 months, I was promoted from a contractor to a salaried employee. During a pandemic. In a time when many people lost their jobs, are struggling, companies are cutting back, I got security. My 5 years of college classes finally paid off. And there's no way that would've happened without the grace of God.

The second thing that happened this year was I finally was able to purchase a car less than 3 years old and less than 20,000 miles. No more 10 year old, 100,000+ mile cars that need constant upkeep. I'm truly grateful and hope to have this one last for years to come.

Now I know the virus isn't going to magically disappear as the calendar changes from 2020 to 2021. But with vaccines finally available and with some knowledge of this virus being known (unlike March when it caught us off-guard), I have hope that 2021 will be better. Below are some things I hope to see happen in 2021.

I miss traveling. And not just to the next state over. I miss buying a plane ticket to a new city. I miss seeing things I've always wanted to see, experiencing local food and culture, and the thrill of the unknown. Some of the best memories in my life have come from my trips. I have a list of destinations, plans, and things I want to do and see here in the new future. I may have to get creative, but I'm going to try and make things happen.

I miss being with people. Like a lot. BBQs, geocaching events, holiday parties, Sunday gatherings, watching sports at restaurants, eating out, I can go on. Hopefully these things are more probable next year.

I miss being at Progressive Field and watching baseball. Even if you don't really follow or care about the sport, being at a ballgame can still be a really good time. I have so many wonderful memories at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario. I hope for the chance to return in 2021.

I also hope for those who struggled vastly, suffered loss in any form, that 2021 would be good to you. That you would be able to find hope, that things would turn around for you, and that you may be able to find joy.

Lastly, I want to make an announcement. For many years I've had the thought of doing this, hoping that maybe one day it will be in published form. While I still have my good memory, starting in January 2021 at minimum once a month, I'm going to post about my life. So an autobiography, but in blog form. The plan is to do so until I've caught up to current day. A lofty goal I know, but I'm going to do my best to keep up with it. Does this mean I'll only blog about that? Nope. When I get the urge to post about something else, I'll do so. And in order to not get confused, any post pertaining to the blog autobiography will have "The Story of My Life" in the title. Does this also mean I'm limiting the posts to one or two a month? Nope again. The minimum is going to be one autobiography post a month. But I know once I come to a number of different places in my life, I'll probably spit out a bunch at once. Also, it's not going to be sugar coated in the sense that I leave some bad things out or make things way better or worse than they actually were. It'll be raw at times, it'll be intense, and it'll be real. 

On that note, I'm ending the last blog post of 2020. Here's to hoping for a much better 2021 and goodwill to you all!

The Last Ride of the Lady in Blue; So Long Malibu

 In 2017, my first love, a 2004 Dodge Intrepid, decided to cough up a transmission at 214,000 miles. So I sadly said adios and welcomed my second love, a 2008 Blue Chevy Malibu.

She was in excellent condition for a car with 127,000 miles. I expected many good things from her. So much so that like the Intrepid before her, two months after I got her, I took her on a long road trip. It was a special one because during the summer, I was in Australia and missed our family trip back to Pennsylvania. So I decided that I was going to make the 6 hour drive to PA and surprise my Grandparents for Christmas. She handled it like a champ. Got me there no problems and gave me a Christmas to remember. I had to give her more of a test on the way back by taking her through the mountains. What a drive around those crazy turns that was. 

Her next big test was five months later when I went on another solo road trip to Cincinnati. The test wasn't really the drive down, but more-so all the hills that Cincy has. I wasn't sure if she was going to make some of them. She also did a lot of stopping and starting as I went from geocache to geocache over the weekend. I had so much confidence in her that I dipped down into Kentucky for a brief visit before heading back to Cleveland. Smooth sailing all the way.

One summer her age started to show with interior pieces starting to wear down and some rust began forming on the edges above the wheels. On vary rare occasions (once a year) the power steering would just conk out. But the next time I started her up, no issue. The interior issues weren't good enough for some high school kids I was driving around and they told me my car was broken and I needed a new one. Sheesh. But I didn't think so. I still thought she had a good chunk of life in her.

After a year and six months, I put her up to a double test. It was June of 2019. I drove her up to Detroit to watch a Tigers game at Comerica Park. I wasn't quite sure where to park so I looked for paid parking lots nearby. The first one I came to was tightly packed and had a dirt floor instead of asphalt. Then after I paid the guy at the booth, I found out that they valet it to an open spot. To say I was nervous would be an understatement. I just drove 2.5 hours to Detroit and wondered if I was ever gonna see it again. Well I went and watched the ballgame and watched the Indians beat the Tigers and Jake Bauers hit the cycle. So as an Indians fan, the game was awesome. I then walked the handful of blocks back to the parking lot. I gave the guys at the booth my parking card and they retrieved my keys and pointed to where she was. I breathed a sigh of relief. I tipped the booth guys, thanked them, and then promptly drove 40 min to Ann Arbor where I was going to spend the rest of the weekend.

The second part of the test came soon and unexpectedly. Two days after I left Ann Arbor, my grandfather passed. So the following less than two weeks later, I drove me and two of my brothers 6 hours back to Pennsylvania. She new the route well, but even though she gave me a tire scare (faulty TMPS sensor) she pulled it off again.

After we returned, I decided to get her oil changed and a check-up. My mechanic suggested new tires would be a good idea and it made sense since I could tell they were getting bad from the previous winter. She'd been good to me this far with no major problems. I had to change brake pads, spark plugs, and rear shocks, but that's normal for a well used car. So I ponied up and got her new rubber. 

As the Fall of 2019 neared, the problems began to come. The rust around the edges got worse, to the point I could stick my hand through a rust hole. Then the actuator in my heating/cooling system went leaving a constant ticking noise wherever I drove. Not a cheap fix. A month later, my right front wouldn't hold air. My mechanic re-adjusted it and it would hold air for a week before I'd have to fill it again. A couple weeks later, my left front started leaking. I thought I had it under control, but driving back from Pittsburgh in January, about 40 minutes from home, I knew the left front was really low. I'm pretty sure I drove it those last 40 minutes on 10 psi. I tried to nurse it the next week, but that was a bad idea as I left walked out of work one day to a completely flat tire. Drove it home on a donut. Found out that both the front rims were bent. Went out and got four aftermarket rims on it. Another punch to my wallet. Then, a week later, all hell broke loose when I couldn't accelerate, my RPMs were shooting above 6000, and I was livid. The timing mechanism in my engine went. For a car with 160,000 miles on it among other internal issues, there was no way the car was worth making that fix. But unfortunately for me, I just sunk a good chunk of money into it, wasn't looking for a new car, and needed a functioning car now. So I bit the bullet hard and got it fixed. My wallet screamed at me.

As you know from a previous post, I got into a fender bender in the summer. I messed up her front pretty good. Thankfully only cosmetic damaged occurred, but it still pained me. I was hoping I could make it one more year, but then, on my 30th birthday, the started died in a Discount Drugmart parking lot and forced me to call a tow truck. I got the starter fixed and now was heavily looking into my next car. While I was doing so, I had the Malibu appraised by a dealer and they informed me the front end suspension was rusted out...yikes. This poor car aged so fast on me that I wish she would've acted up sooner before I put the tires on, as much as that pains me to say. So I finally found my third love and I took my Lady in Blue on one last long slow drive to the dealership where I left her for good. 

Before all her problems, she was pretty, she drove like a dream, put up with my hard turns, sharp angles, and even some stupid quick lane shifts, and she got me where I needed to go. Through heavy rains and blinding Cleveland snow, she was my baby. And I know it's just a car, but she was my car. She was the first big purchase I made after almost going broke and being without a job for a whole year. And her name was Emily.