It’s Saturday, I’m in Detroit and about to take a one-way flight to New York City. It’s about to become totally real for me, which is fucking terrifying, but also super exciting. I need to talk to my best friends because they are going to give me that pep talk I need. I also might need liquid courage on the plane. We will see.
One week ago, my dog Bula and I left that dump in Nashville. My SUV was packed with everything I cherished or had left after donating 95% of my belongings to charities. It was just going to be about an eight-hour drive to Detroit. Yep, should arrive by about 10 PM. Easy.
Yeah, not.
Somewhere around the four-hour mark, in the sticks of Kentucky, my Audi began to shake. I spotted a truck stop about two miles ahead and slowly pulled into it, feeling anxious and questioning everything I was doing. I mean, seriously, who donates everything they fucking own to move to New York City without a job? This was not good.
The only mechanic in town shows up around an hour later, now it’s after 7:00 and it’s dark out. He’s bopping about the truck stop, helping some of the truckers with their wheels and tires, then makes his way to me. He investigates as thoroughly as he can and realizes it’s the transmission fluid that needs to be flushed – basically, my car had never had the transmission serviced and since it was right at 100K miles, it needed it. I also had a shit load of weight that was causing the trans to overwork – which meant, I was going to be stuck there for at least another day.
Alright, deep breath, Ty. This is meant to be. Just another day in God’s country before you live in the city that never sleeps. Relax, take it in, and breathe.
It was nice, but also creepy, that the mechanic offered to let me sleep at his house, where he also housed a local prostitute. I’ve seen that movie and I know how it ends. Instead, I locked in a cheap hotel room nearby and asked if I could venture out to his house the next morning. His shop was closed on Sunday, but he assured me he had everything he needed at his house to do the job and get me back on the road.
Sunday. I drive the 45 minutes out to his house, then spend literally 12 hours there while he sloppily flushed my transmission fluid and added fresh fluid. Ugh, geesh, I needed to get the fuck out of there before dark – but didn’t. Finally, after 8:00, I get on the road. But not before this dude tells me to give him a call if I ever want to come back for a long weekend in the country with him.
Okay, even if I were interested in dating ever again in my life, this would not be the ideal setup.
Fortunately, my friends Stacey and Matt lived just over an hour north of there, by Cincinnati. I stopped for the night and got some good sleep, then decided to stay another night and chill with Stacey and the kids. Bula was also happy to have a space to relax for a day, since the past couple days were pretty chaotic, and we were stuck in the car. I had a tire replaced as well while I was in town and felt pretty good about continuing the drive on to Detroit on Tuesday.
Tuesday.
Right, what was supposed to be a quick drive to the D ended up being over 3 days. No worries. I made it and pulled into my buddy Mark’s house around 3:00, and I had some work to do, too. This NYC-based company that I had interviewed with three times already wanted me to present a thorough marketing solution for their startup – so I needed a few hours to zone out and work on it.
I spent a good five hours on that marketing strategy, so I was ready to fucking rock it on Thursday. And sure enough, I did! I expected I would hear back the following week while pounding pavement in Manhattan. It was the perfect job for me, too, since I’m scrappy and always roll up my sleeves to make newly founded businesses successful.
I’m now two hours away from jetting off to make my dreams come true. I just need one month while subletting a room from a guy who lives in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, while he spends a month backpacking Peru. His roommate, Luke, and I have chatted a few times and I’m sure we are going to get along fine for a month. I’m the type to stay out of the way and keep to myself, even though I haven’t shared a space with anyone since I was married to the ‘Mexican mistake’.
I grab my phone to call my friend Allie, I hadn’t talked to her all week. Her aunt answers the phone and says, “You didn’t hear?”
I’m like, WTF, hear what? It was then that I learned that she’d had a brain aneurism and a stroke the week prior. Instantly, tears streamed down my face. What was I going to do? Did I need to re-route and fly down to Tampa to be with her? She was in an induced coma and was undergoing several procedures, so her Ma told me to wait it out. Right then and there, I recalled that the last time I’d seen her, back in May, she wrote on my whiteboard.
Do what makes your heart happy <3 – Allie
My heart has always been in NYC, so I followed her advice and went, with angst and concern for her wellbeing the entire flight. I decided that this way, when she wakes up, whenever that is, I can say to her I did it. She will be proud of everything I accomplished while she was sleeping.
Now, it’s time to hustle harder than I have ever hustled in my damn life.