Chris in VA Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 From Facebook--I just thought this was really nicely written. Feel free to add your highs and lows. I also just really lived knowing what he values. (This is my eldest, who is an Aspie and currently criss-crosses the country filming customer interactions with a hidden camera for a mystery shopping company.) Lowest Point of 2019: The car breaking down and having to fly to Rhode Island all within 24 hours. So back near the end of January I had to go and mystery shop a 7 Eleven nearby that another scout had missed. I had to take my own car and it was snowing outside. Driving back home the serpentine belt inside the car partially broke and made a banshee like screeching sound. I had to turn off the car and wait two hours before getting towed. We arrived just as the AAA store closed and I had to knock hard on the glass for them to let me in. I had to get a ride back home from one of the employees. I was so worried I didn't sleep at all that night and they called a little after 7am telling me they needed to replace the water pump in addition to the belt. I hadn't yet been given my first paycheck and couldn't cover the cost. I then got a call from work saying I had to fly to Rhode Island that afternoon and had until Noon the next day to do eight stores that another scout didn't get. I had to explain my situation on the phone to the woman at AAA and beg her to have them keep my car with them free of charge and until I got paid enough just to replace the parts, which they did mercifully. I then very embarrassingly had to ask for a $500 loan from my dad to help with everything. So I flew to Providence and drove straight to the hotel because I hadn't slept at all. I hit the first store at around 5:30am. It was -13 degrees outside and I didn't know at the time that I could wear my coat in a way that wouldn't block the view of the button camera I wear on my chest. I finished a couple hours before my flight back home left but I had typed in the address to the wrong airport, then forgot where the Enterprise Rent-A-Car was located because it was separate from the airport. I snapped and had a meltdown in the car, like Matt Damon in The Martian. I was so tired and frustrated and stuck. But I refocused and eventually found where everything was. I even ran into Chris Brown at the airport, which made things feel better. The car got fixed up and the loan was repaid. Highest Point of 2019: Getting to see my niece Victoria for Christmas. She is four years old and I hadn't seen her in two years, so she had no memory of me. I had planned to visit nearly a year before, but leading up to it I had always wondered if the worst would happen and one of the planes I flew on would unexpectedly crash or I would get killed in a car accident while working in another part of the country. Thankfully none of that happened. Though she was shy and skeptical at first, she warmed up. I got to make her laugh until she had the hiccups, play games, play on the playground, watch videos with her etc. Lots of fun, lots of merry laughter. I saw and did a lot this year. I got to go on a tour of Alcatraz, walk across the Golden Gate Bridge twice, see the Pacific for the first time. I got to see the cherry blossoms again. I got to see Ft. Clatsop, see Mt. St. Helens, spend the night on Mt. Hood at the Timberline Lodge, see the end of the Oregon Trail, visit the last working Blockbuster in the world. I got to see Las Vegas for the first time, take a tour of Death Valley on my last day of 29, turn 30 inside the Bellagio, go see the Hoover Dam on my Birthday. I got to see the Autumn leaves in New England, see the Rocky Mountains and hike up the Great Sand Dunes again. A lot of work trips with lights at the end of a lot of tunnels. But when I finished my last trip of the year and had to drive nearly 500 miles the next day to get to Asheville on Christmas Eve, Victoria's light shined the brightest of them all. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthwestMom Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 Your son sounds like such a great person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted January 1, 2020 Author Share Posted January 1, 2020 Just now, NorthwestMom said: Your son sounds like such a great person. That's so kind of you to say! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanin Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 Aww. What a sweet kid. And a good writer, too! Sounds like he had an eventful and worthwhile year 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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