3 years, R u serious
Three years ago on this day Cindy took me up on my FB invite for someone to use the second ticket to a Tarpons game. Although I knew Cindy a little bit from running club social functions the game wasn’t really intended to be a date from either of our perspectives. I had been through almost a solid year of dating unsuccessfully at that point and was pretty turned off by the whole scene by then. Cindy wasn’t doing much dating either and had focused much of the previous year on triathlon training as she had completed her first half Ironman a couple months prior.
Since Cindy is outgoing and a talker it immediately made things more relaxed for me. I am a conversational counter puncher, someone who will interject thoughts here and there but never one to be able to carry a conversation single handedly very well. We seemed to have similar viewpoints on a lot of things. Without even really looking we both found ourselves in a relationship.
It’s hard to believe that three years have already passed. When I think about all that we have done and seen in that time it is pretty amazing. Cindy’s energy level and consistently positive attitude has been a good counter to the less than stellar mood valleys I find myself in on a regular basis. She literally brightens each and every day I am on this Earth. I have never had anybody be so selfless in their support of me and to be honest to this day I still am not all that good at accepting all of it. It still feels weird to have somebody love you that much and be so open with their expression of that love. It’s a good problem to have.
Tonight we have reservations at Seasons 52 for a celebratory dinner. Unfortunately the earliest time slot I could get was 8:15 so it will be a late meal. I plan to combat the potential drowsiness with a 5 hour energy. I have been very lucky to have Cindy in my life the last three years and I love her for the person that she is.
So yesterday after writing my blog entry about a new Tacoma ideas were floating through my head. One of them was something 4 years ago would have been nothing short of blasphemous, selling the SSR.
When I bought the truck going on five years ago there is absolutely no denying it was a classic mid-life crisis purchase scenario. I wasn’t very happy with aspects of my life and the truck was a way to redirect my focus elsewhere. I directed a lot of resources to the truck early on. I easily spent 4-5K on various upgrades, none of which were really needed.
Once I got separated the SSR really became something I leaned on. It was a key part of my flawed dating strategy as any woman that was more impressed by the vehicle you drive than the person that you are is not somebody I would be interested in anyway. I had a lot of solo drives in the truck after another lousy first date with Linkin Park blasting as I thought about how single life was not all that I imagined it would be. Cindy, who is a big fan of cool vehicles loved the SSR. She eventually became the only other person that I have allowed to drive it. We would normally take it on most dates, enjoying open air driving on a regular basis.
Over time an odd thing started to happen, the truck would sit in the garage for weeks at a time. Once we bought the Prius, sensible, gas efficient transportation trumped the loud, rumbling ride of the SSR the majority of the time. When I have thought about why this is the simplest answer is that I am more content in other areas of my life nowadays so the truck is no longer needed to fill that void. Which lead me to the thoughts yesterday.
If I would sell the recently paid off SSR and my beloved 99 Tacoma I would be able to easily slide into a new Tacoma without feeling any budget impact. I would be able to do so for the same or less than what my SSR payments were. There would be some ancillary savings as well as far as maintenance and insurance only being on two vehicles instead of three. Subtracting a 17 year old vehicle from the fleet removes a lot of potential repair expense. I was somewhat surprised that when I mentioned this potential plan to Cindy she was enthusiastically supportive. Although she loves the SSR as well, getting a new Tacoma that I would get to enjoy daily instead of the bi-weekly or longer SSR joyride would be a win overall in her opinion.
I will give more thought to the option. It does seem like a more mature and logistically feasible way to go in the big picture. I do hate being accused of being mature though….