Reminiscing and a New Adventure

It’s amazing to think that it’s been a year since I began the (far too brief) odyssey from Santa Barbara to Portland on my motorcycle. I still have many fond memories of that trip - the places I saw, the roads I enjoyed, and the friends I went to visit. I can’t wait until I have an opportunity to embark on another trip like that, but for now it will have to wait a bit longer.

I had hoped to obtain a replacement bike after the Versys was totalled in the deer incident by now, but I’ve not been able to allocate the money for a replacement. 

Much of this has to do with another purchase I’ve made over the course of the past year - my first house. I’ve embarked on a different kind of adventure since my road trip. I’ve gone from my quiet, small, roommate-free 1-bedroom apartment into a large 4 bedroom, 3 bath house that I now share with my girlfriend Kitty, her children and our new dog. I now appreciate what Kitty always used to say when she would come over to my apartment and marvel at how quiet things were over there. I suppose one way to look at it is that the quiet has been replaced with live entertainment. Oh, and I don’t have to duck my head when I walk into my garage anymore which is a nice bonus.

It’s interesting, having gone from ‘bachelor’ to ‘parent of teenagers’ almost instantaneously, but so far I’ve not felt a need to sign up for any psychiatric counseling. The occasional beer or glass of wine certainly helps quell the need for said counseling, I’m sure ;-). I often catch myself thinking that, “I need to help prepare them for life on their own and I don’t have much time left” which probably makes me a bit more of a hard-ass than I likely need to be at times. So far, it seems like we get along alright though. I find that I’m learning and seeing things from different perspectives as a result. If this weren't challenging enough, we recently adopted a beautiful labrador which we've named Rufus. He's a very sweet dog, but is still going to need a bit of training to make sure he comes when called and isn't looking for food on the kitchen counters when inside.

 

One of the things that I see with the new house that reminds me of my trip last summer is the vegetable garden that Kitty and I (mostly Kitty) have planted in the backyard. It still doesn’t come close to rivalling Jeff and Kimberlee’s amazing garden, but I’d like to think that theirs provided some inspiration for ours. I certainly love being able to have fresh vegetables available just outside our back door. I’m looking forward to the various peppers and the watermelons ripening to the point where we can eat them.

Home ownership has certainly been a lot of work thus far. We’ve been able to complete most of our ‘big’ projects. The indoors have received a much needed paint job and we’ve replaced all of the upstairs carpet with laminate flooring. We still need to put new tile in the master bath, as we haven’t been able to get around to installing it yet. I’ve built a workbench and installed a ceiling storage solution in the garage, which helps free up more space. Despite many of the small things that still need to be accomplished, it certainly feels like a home that we’ve been living in for a lot longer than the 3 and a half months since we moved in.