I hadn’t really intended to resume writing at this site just to disappear for a month, but the last several weeks have been tremendously, and unexpectedly busy.
My new job keeps me very occupied, which means that, unlike my last job, I have not had any time for messing around at work, (well… I say I haven’t had any time for messing around at work… I have managed to find a few minutes here and there for some “messing around”… But that’s another story for another time, or maybe not…). I certainly have not had time for writing blog posts! On top of that, my evenings and week-ends have been pretty hectic as well. Making time to write blog posts has been nearly impossible! When I’m not working, which has been mostly on Saturday’s I’m hanging out with Lil’B, or other friends, or shopping, or whatever… And when none of that is going on, I’m often engaged in the ongoing text-a-palooza with “A Guy” that has been, in equal parts, ripping my heart out, and showing me a world of possibilities I never believed existed for me. He is less so “a guy” now, and more so “the guy”, though it’s still really complicated and not without its share of frustration… But I’m getting ahead of my self and it’s much too late to get very far into that tonight. Besides, I’m still processing and not sure what or how much to say. So apparently I’m just a big tease… But then again so is he… Er, what was I saying?
There are a lot of things to write about and I really must make the time to get it in, but for now, there’s this…
In the early middle of June, I went one Saturday afternoon to K’s house in Berkeley, for her son’s graduation party/barbecue. At the end of the party, I was in the kitchen packing up the things I had brought along, when K’s father, in from Arizona for the event, said, “Kevin? Is that your car out front here?” I confirmed that it was and he said, “cause this guy just smacked your car!” Now my car was parked at the curb, at the edge of K’s driveway, with at least 20 feet of open curb between my rear bumper and the corner. Remember that. It’ll be important in a second.
K and I ran out to the street to see what had happened as the late-model Honda Accord drove away from the scene. he drove halfway down the block, turned around in a driveway and then parked his car at the curb. Seeing K and me standing there, he strolled slowly, and with empty hands, back to where I was standing, behind my car and examining the damage. The first words out of this guy’s mouth were, “Oh, sorry. I thought I had enough room to park there.”
I turned around and looked at the expanse of curb behind me and said, “Um, I think you had plenty of room to park there”
We surveyed the damage to my car and it was minimal. I told the young man, “It doesn’t look to bad. I’m sure it won’t be too complicated to fix, but I should go ahead and get your information. Do you know he actually rolled his eyes at me, and then sauntered back down the street to his car to get his insurance information?!?
A week later, I had dropped my car off at a body shop to get the damage repaired, and I was on my way to the Hertz Local Edition lot to pick up my rental car. When the driver pulled into the lot, I saw it right away. The car of my dreams… all most. They had one white, Convertible Mustang on the lot (I don’t care for white cars, but otherwise it was great!) just waiting for someone to pick it out and drive away. I was meant to be that someone. My whole life a Mustang has been my dream car, though I never really thought I would be a Convertible guy. Since it was an insurance replacement (my insurance policy covered $25.00 a day), they were offering discounted rates. I don’t know what the Mustang would normally cost, but with the insurance company discount, it cost only $40.00 a day including Taxes. My portion was only about $15.00 a/day. When the lady at the counter told me that, I had only one response: “Why not! It’s time to kill the dream, anyway! Let’s go for it.” I thought the likelihood of it living up to my expectation was pretty low, so once I had driven one, I wouldn’t be so excited any longer.
I picked the car up on Friday morning, and I already had plans to go on a photo expedition on Saturday, with K. (In April, just before starting my new job, I went to Albany, NY to visit my sister and her family, finally getting to meet, not only the new baby baby, but also, the nearly three-year old I hadn’t gotten to meet at that point. Before going on that trip, I bought a fancy pants new digital 35 millimeter camera and I’m itching to learn all of its secrets.) Naturally, while we were out, I had to have some pictures of the Mustang.
The Mustang which did nothing to destroy my dream!
I had that car for a week five days, three of which were rainy, which I thought was completely unfair of Mother Nature. The rain tapered off on the third day, but it was still a bit cold. I didn’t care. I had a Mustang for only a few days. I was not about to lose a single precious moment in that car!
At the end of the week, I did not want to give it back which meant… There was only one thing to be done:
SOME dreams do come true.
Riggledo 