It's been a while . . .

So, apparently it's been almost two years since I've posted a blog on here.  That is a pretty good long time.  It has been probably about a year since I have written anything for public consumption at all.  I don't know if I've been missed or not, but I suppose that doesn't really matter.  What matters is that I miss writing.  I tweet from time to time because it's the lazy man's version of writing.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on twitter, I enjoy it quite a bit.  My point is simply that it is pretty difficult to wax eloquent in 140 characters or less.  If you are capable of such feats, you are more talented than I am.

I assume that most of the people who read my blog are people that know me and keep up with what's going on in my life in ways (mostly facebook) other than this blog.  Because of this, I am not going to waste your time with a rundown of everything that's happened in the last two years.  It's been two years; lots of stuff happened; that's not why I'm here.  Now if I have a random following in Iceland or somewhere that thought I was dead and is now ecstatic that I am in fact alive, I do apologize for not filling you in on what's been happening.  If you are one of these hypothetical people, get in touch with me and I will give you the scoop.

The logical question would then be, well why am I here?  This isn't an existential question, at least not in the way I mean it.  Basically I just want to make someone smile, or laugh, or if I'm really lucky make their day.  That can sound like a pretty ambitious goal from some random blog about some random guy's life but you never know, it could happen.  In the past you may have noticed that I had a tendency to stray away from serious topics in my blogs.  I was usually trying to tell a funny story or trying to tell a boring story while somehow making it funny along the way.  Well, I have a serious story today. I'd like to tell you about the loss of a loved one.

The Jeep first came into my life in September of 2007. I had been driving a 1994 Oldsmobile which can best be described as a boat. It was an enormous old man car. I liked the car but didnt love it, mostly because whenever I was braking down a hill I felt like a runaway freight train careening out of control. So as much as I enjoyed the luxury and leather seats, that's factor was a pretty big check in the negative column. My run with the Olds came to an unceremonious end when I was rear ended by a guy going 40 mph. I happened to be with my now wife in one of the first times we ever hung out. I quickly turned to her after getting hit and rather than checking to see if she was ok, I asked her in a panic if thy was my fault. That's me, always the gentleman. No wonder she married me. Anyway, I drove the mangled remains of that car for about a month before I had to turn it in to the insurance company to collect the fat check coming my way.

At this point I had been looking mostly at SUVs to replace my car since I lived at school down two miles of gravel road. It came down to the wire before I chose my new vehicle. It was a Sunday afternoon and my dad and I had narrowed our search down to a Cadillac and a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee limited. Don't ask me how the Cadillac my the finals, I think it's because my dad has always wanted one but either way, we test drove the Caddy first. It was a pretty smooth ride and everything you would expect from such a nice car.  We told the nice man selling the Cadillac that we had a Jeep to test drive before we made our decision. The man kind of chuckled and said, I will take my chances with my Cadillac over a Jeep any day, I will see you back here in a little bit.

To make a long story slightly less long, I never saw or spoke to the man with the Cadillac again. I think my dad called him to tell him we were no longer interested because that was the right thing to do but as soon as I got into the that Jeep, it was a done deal for me. I was immediately infatuated with this vehicle. I loved the way it looked, I loved the way it drove and I loved driving it. I couldn't have been happier with my choice. And then the winter came, and things got even better. Omaha was absolutely dumped on with snow that year and people were getting stuck and snowed in with much regularity. Not me. I drove where ever and however I wanted without any issues. If I wasn't in love with the Jeep before, I certainly was now. This thing was unbelievable and it was all mine.

While there were a few ups and downs with the Jeep (mostly a couple difficult repairs) my allegiance never wavered. Even as I got married and eventually bought a new, more fuel efficient car, I kept the Jeep and drove it whenever I got the chance. Things started to deteriorate a few months ago when my parents suggested they might want to donate the Jeep since it wasn't being driven as much anymore. By this point the Jeep was the third vehicle for my wife and I and it spent most of its time parked in my parents driveway. Despite this, I was physically shaken by the idea of the Jeep no longer being a part of my life. No one was more surprised by this reaction than I was. I thought I had gotten over the Jeep, I thought I had moved on, but clearly I hadn't.

After this, I started driving the Jeep more often, almost daily in fact. I spent some time, effort, and money fixing it up. In December I had a vintage Jeep moment. A heavy snow storm had shut down much of the city and the Jeep had been parked on the street when the snow plow came by. There was snow packed almost up to the door in the drivers side and it appeared as if I might be snowed in just like the rest of the helpless, non-Jeep owning world. However my wife had asked me to go get some groceries so I decided to give my Jeep a chance to shine. After cleaning the car off, I thought I would back up a little to try and create some space to get out. The Jeep barely budged. At this point I figured it was all or nothing so I put the Jeep in drive, turned the wheel all the way to the side and hit the gas. What moments early had appeared to be an impenetrable snow mountain felt like little more than a speed bump as I cruised out of my parking spot and into the road. Little did I know, that would be the last snow storm the Jeep and I would tackle together.

About two weeks ago, I was driving the Jeep to pick up my wife from work. It had been acting a little funny but I didn't think too much of it. On the way home, we started to have problems. I would push the gas pedal and the engine would rev but I couldn't accelerate. I pulled onto a neighborhood street to investigate the issue. My less than formidable skills mechanical skills were no match for what ailed the Jeep. As it would turn out the transmission had gone bad and the price tag on that meant it was not going to be fixed. The Jeep had passed away.

Last night as I battled through my first blizzard without the Jeep, I missed it more than usual. I always thought I was a good driver in the snow. I'm not. I'm horrible. It turns out the Jeep overcompensated for my lack of skills more than I could imagine. Now driving a sedan in the snow feels like Russian roulette every time I climb in the car.

When all was said and done, the Jeep gave me over 5 years of an undefeated record. Zero speeding tickets.  Zero accidents. Zero times getting stuck in the snow. Here's to you Jeep, you'll always hold a special place in my heart.