One year ago today, I traveled with my family to Palm Springs to pick up our new Tesla. It was the second time I had ever driven one. It was my first new car purchase. Regenerative braking was still incomprehensible. Immediately after picking up the vehicle, we drove up to Morongo Valley to meet my dad. We wanted to show him the car and join him for lunch. When we arrived he had rapidly melting ice cream in his hand for Liyah and was so excited about the car. I took him for a ride while Liyah and Eva watched Tux at the restaurant. The acceleration blew his mind. He was proud of me. It was a really happy day. Later that weekend he came to our house. I had some friends come over and help me raise my new pergola covering our back patio. This was a big step in making progress on our yard. Momentum with the pandemic was shifting, life was starting to feel more normal. I was looking forward to taking more trips in the car and connecting with my friends again. Things were looking up.
Today, I drove the Tesla to work. It is no longer in pristine condition. The hood is scratched where I over aggressively removed sap (and I have added the task of polishing it to the backlog of projects that require my time and attention), there is a chip on the driver’s side door, there is a dent from a cart in the trunk, there is a screw in the rear passenger tire that needs to be plugged. Liyah finished the 6th grade yesterday. We are so proud of her. My dad would have been proud of her too. He was always her biggest fan. We will go to his house this weekend to try to make progress on finishing it. We plan to plant grass in our yard in the coming weeks to accompany the pergola we installed 363 days ago. We are meeting with my sister and niece to get Barry and Sly together with Tux again on Sunday. The dogs were family, but they haven’t seen each other since the end of February. My relationship with my sister and that side of the family is the best it’s ever been. I feel the summer energy coming and things are looking up, again. So much has changed. So much is still stuck where it has been. Life is so beautiful, but goddam, it can also be so hard.
