April 11, 2011
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A Landmark Year
The year 2001 was a big year for me, a lot happened either good or bad. After my mom died of cancer in early 2000, I was determined to get a job that offered health insurance so in part, that I could go to the doctor for routine physicals. In February I wound up getting a job at AAA and within a matter of just a few months I was promoted. As for the health insurance, I wound up getting coverage for the first time in 8 years. Turns out I would really need it later in the year, but more on that later. Since 2001, I have managed to go for a routine physical every single year, including this year when I will go in a couple of weeks.
On April 2 of that year, I met my friend Danel who would go on to become one of my best friends. We had an instant connection; almost like soul mates if you believe that sort of thing (I don’t). Like many great friendships, this one had a funny story that started off the friendship. She worked at AAA but in another office. I had always seen her name in our system but because I had never seen the name Danel before I assumed it was a misspelling and that her name was actually Daniel. So finally she came out to our office and the moment I saw her I read her nametag and said these exact words: “Holy shit, you’re a girl!” And with that it was on. I remember calling my best friend Jt when I got home that night and told him I had met the person of my dreams and her name was Danel. He knew I was gay and was stunned by my call. We actually wound up going on a few dates but nothing became of it for obvious reasons.
Flash forward to April 30 when I bought my car, a 2001 Chevy Cavalier. There is a funny story about me at the dealership but that deserves it own post. It was the first brand new car I had ever bought and 118,000 miles and 10 years later, I still have the damn thing. After having the car for only a few weeks and under 500 miles, I dozed off at the wheel on my way to work on a Tuesday in May and drove it into a curb, destroying not only my tire but also the rim.
It was a bad year for my battle against curbs. On July 4, I was playing right field in a game of baseball when my cousin hit a long foul ball that I went after at full speed. It went into the parking lot and I raced after it to try to stop it from going into the street. I never even saw the curb that I tripped over and landed hard on my right shoulder. Curbs 2, Mike 0. There were two things I instantly realized: the laughter coming from the field at the sight of my stumble and the excruciating pain that was radiating from my shoulder. I thought it was just a bad bruise so I got up and continued to play the entire game (this happened in the first inning) in part because I didn’t want people to make fun of me for not playing due to a simple bruise. As the game went on though, the pain got worse and worse to the point where just swinging the bat or throwing the ball resulted in the worst pain imaginable. Turns out it was right to hurt like hell as I had separated my shoulder.
Although it was only a first degree separation, I spent much of the rest of the summer recovering from my injury; and injury that still hurts every now and then if I sleep on it wrong. I remember my last doctor appointment for the shoulder was on September 10th. The world changed forever the next day.
In June of 2001, my friend Jt and I took a one day road trip down to Cincinnati to watch the Cubs play the Reds. I live in the southwest burbs of Chicago and Cincy is about a 5 hour drive from my house. We took the Cavalier, left at 10am, got down there about 4:30 (we lost an hour due to the time change) watched the game which started at 7:10 pm then drove home right after, getting home at about 3:30 in the morning. Some say it’s nuts to drive that far for a 3 hour baseball game, but I ask those people where is your sense of adventure?
So those were my own personal memories of 2001.
