Today I took possession of a townhouse, my first home. It is a very weird feeling. I am sitting here in a daze. I really didn't know I could feel this happy.
I really never thought this was a possibility for me. As little as six years ago I was a struggling student living in a shitty apartment in the hood. I had rats. I sometimes sold possessions when I ran out of money to eat. A crash on my mountain bike changed everything.
My friend Matt and I were out goofing around on our mountain bikes near Cal Expo. I was trucking along on some singletrack when I suddenly found myself going over the bars and slamming to the ground on my left shoulder. I had hit a deep hole that I never saw because the weeds in the hole had grown up to ground level.
I suffered a dislocation and a separation at the AC joint. I was in tremendous pain. I had no medical coverage. Matt, who was well on his way to becoming a doctor, told me there was little to be done in the short term. They would simply put me in a sling.
I made a homemade sling and toughed it out. When my mom saw me she said I either needed to quit mountain biking or get a real job with medical coverage. Well, I certainly wasn't going to quit riding, so . . .
I got a job with the state almost six years ago to the day. I worked my way up from an entry level job into IT and started making decent money. And here I am today sitting in my empty first house.
As luck would have it my current apartment (which is quite nice) is about 125 yards from my new townhouse. Easy move.
Oh, you want bike content? Well, I am less than a mile from the American River Bike Trail.
Anyway, here are a few pictures of the new place.
My own garage! I have been working on bikes in apartments for so long. I cannot wait to work out here.
I feel extremely lucky, and I will be forever grateful to my mom who pitched in with the down payment.
Later.
