Hard to Focus

It's a sad time in my life.  It's time to say goodbye to my Focus.  My seafoam green 2003 Ford Focus that I have had since 2005.  I still remember the day we got it from the Ford dealership in Tampa, FL. Dad had come down for spring training and while he was there we traded in the beaten down Ford Ranger (I really kicked the crap outta that car) and due to cost I was limited to choosing between a Focus and an Impala.  I ended up choosing the green car with the golf ball dents in the side instead of the sportier white Impala, but in the end it was a good decision.  My car and I have been through a lot.  In over 11 years together we have traveled over 120,000 miles together.  That may not sound like a lot but I haven't been driving it much the past year.  I haven't driven it at all in the last month and have only put about 15,000 miles on it since 2013.  But before I moved within walking distance to work and prior to recent car troubles, I drove all over the place.  This car took me from Tampa to Boston and Boston to California.  It took me all over Florida and up and down the state of California several times.

To commemorate this fateful day, here are some of the fondest memories I had in this car:

1. Flat tire after flat tire - the car must not have had the greatest tires when I bought it because I was going through tires like you wouldn't believe.  I could have supplied playgrounds all over the country with tire swings from this car.  But I learned how to patch a tire (thanks Jason) and learned that even though my dad "has a guy" it doesn't always mean he's "the guy that has great tires."

2. Radiator issues - My first experience with my car overheating came when I was driving back from a wedding (somewhere out near Orlando) on I-4 and it broke down.  I pulled over to the side of the road and of course called AAA.  As they were sending out a tow-truck I pulled out a leftover six pack of some Miller Lite (most likely, I could be making this part up) and climbed up a hill so I wasn't sitting the side of the highway.  As I sat there about to crack open a beer it started absolutely downpouring!  This was God's way of saying, "Hey dumbass, do you REALLY think you should be doing what you're doing right now?"  Of course I continued.

3. Pirates of the Caribbean 3 - such an awful movie but I went to see it in this beauty.

4.  No passenger side mirror - So one night after a Rays game we come walking out and I notice my passenger side mirror is dangling.  The wires are the only thing holding it onto the car.  Are you KIDDING ME?!  Nobody fessed up to it but I'm pretty sure it was Billy and whoever he was wrestling in the parking lot that hit and knocked it off.  I let that thing drag on the side of my car for a long time before taking it off.  I haven't had a mirror since (this was 2007) and I actually park better without it!

5. Not a great memory, but it was broken into at Tropicana Field and my high school glove, my basketball shoes, and some other baseball stuff was stolen...perks of finding a D.D.

6. Trip home - in 2007 I thought it best to move out of Tampa and move back home to Massachusetts.  I packed up anything that would fit in my car, including Jason (my roommate) and left everything else behind.  We had such a great trip north; stopping in Georgia, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and finally home.  We even went to a Red Sox @ Cleveland playoff game and I came very close to catching 2 foul balls.

7. Driver side mirror - Oh I don't have a passenger side mirror, why would I need a driver's side one? When parked in Brookline in the winter I came out to no mirror and several scratches on my car.  Luckily a very nice gentleman left a not on several cars and paid for the mirror and even a paint job!

8. Dent, what dent? - So I get home and notice a HUGE dent in the front end of my car.  HUGE!  No missing it.  I definitely didn't remember hitting anything and I thought maybe someone in the parking garage hit me at work and I just didn't notice.  That scenario may have made sense.  Well that's not what happened at all, not even close!  While talking about it a couple days later at dinner with the fam, after driving up for a weekend in Manchester, mom just casually sits there and says, "Oh...I hit your car!"  WHAT?! What do you MEAN you hit my car?! Are you KIDDING ME?!  Mom: "Yeah, but it wasn't that bad, I just bumped it." Nope, you put a basketball sized dent in the front end and if you were anyone else besides my mother I'd sue you.

9.  Trip to Cali - the trip that changed my life.  In 2010 it was time to get the hell outta Dodge and find a new home.  I packed up the Focus yet again and set out for my 4500 mile journey.  12 days and numerous states later and I arrived here in Monterey, the start of this great chapter of my life.

10. San Diego - When I got here I was taking many trips south to San Diego to visit Mike and my record for Monterey to San Diego was 6hrs 15mins.  #Rocketboy

There are so many more trips and car problems that I could write about them all day.  Now, it is time to clean out the Focus and say goodbye.