Here we go. Happy 2015 everyone. I hope your holiday was great. Mine was all over the place… happy, mad, surprised, a little lonely, relaxing, and of course a lot of fun.

First off, it started off with my birthday. That was Friday December 19. Not a lot really to report on that day. I had scheduled an outdoor Ice Skating party but I had to cancel that because of rain. So, we went to a Christmas party instead. It was a nice surprise to see my family there. The hosts of the party invited my son Korey, my mom and a few others to join in the fun. And of course, my mom (unknowingly) selected the most inappropriate Christmas gift as we did our White Elephant gift exchange. But she was a great sport about it.

The next day, the first official day of vacation, was probably the day that will stick out as the most memorable day of the vacation. It happened at night. I was at the bar and headed home around 7pm and I pulled into the parking garage at my apartment building and I noticed something. I didn’t know whether to call 911 or pee my pants. My cars were gone. There’s not really anyway to tell this story without sounding like a jerk but I’ll try. I have always been a fan of old cars. During the last 2 years, I have saved up some money and managed to buy a couple of these. They are old cars but I am very happy that I was blessed to get them. The oldest one is a 1957 Chevy truck that I bought for my birthday 2 years ago. Then, a Buick Centurion came my way and the owner was trying to get rid of it. And most recently, a 1966 Mustang. Like I said, they are oldies… but I think they are goodies. Anyway, I have 3 parking spots that I always park them in since I don’t drive them very much. So, I pulled into my parking garage and I was noticed immediately that all 3 of them were gone. I let out a scream and a serious series of cuss words. I pulled out my phone to call 911 but something made me wait. I looked around the parking area and there was no broken glass, no visible signs of a break in. So I decided to go to my apartment. That’s when I noticed that all 3 sets of keys were missing. AND, call me crazy or selfish but NO ONE has driven any of these cars but me.

Well, there’s 2 people who have a key to my apartment. My dog walker lady, and my girlfriend. Neither of whom should have been driving any of my vehicles.

I called my girlfriend and there was no answer. For some reason, since my birthday was the day before, I’m wondering if someone is pranking me. So, I drove back to the bar to see if there was anything up or anyone that could tell me something. I got about halfway there and that’s when I had the bright idea to circle back by my apartment to see if I was imagining this or if this was indeed a joke. I pulled up to my apartment and that’s when I saw my truck pulling into my parking garage. OK, well, that’s it. someone was trying to play a joke on me. I then noticed one of my friends vehicles parked in front of the building… ok, I don’t know exactly what the joke was but I knew I had busted them. I headed back to the bar to wait on them to show up so I could bust them. 10 minutes later, my buddy and his wife came into the bar. I was like haha, I busted you…they weren’t laughing. In fact, Kelly, was wiping away tears. Ok, I’m wondering if this is part of the joke. She comes right up to me and says I’m so sorry. I’m like, what’s up? She looked at me and said, I wrecked your truck.

Wait!!! You Wrecked my truck??? First of all, How and why were you driving my truck?? That’s the first question. Ok, Did anyone get hurt??? Where are the other two cars? Who was driving them? I had so many questions. She said, I’ll let your girlfriend give you all of the details. Now, I’m thoroughly confused.

All I could do was wait for my girlfriend to show up. About 20 minutes later she did. This is when I almost wish I was more of a person that gets mad. But I’m really not that guy. Anyway, my girlfriend walks in with a sad look on her face as well. She apologizes. All I can ask is what the heck was going on? I am clueless. She confessed…Kind of:

She said she was trying to do “something special” for my Christmas present and she went to my apartment and got all of my car keys. She and 2 friends drove the 3 cars somewhere to do something. That’s all she would confess to. I still really have no idea what really happened. All I know is that my vehicles were taken without me knowing. I wasn’t really mad at my girlfriend or either of the friends that helped. I was just mad at the way it all played out. Obviously, this wasn’t done intentionally. And in fact, it was done as some sort of gift for me. That I still didn’t have a clue as to what it was.

Fast forward to Christmas Eve, my girlfriend was giving me my gifts before I took her to the Airport. I opened this one in particular and it was a photo album. I opened it up and then it all made sense. The missing cars, the secrecy, the friends. She had taken the cars to a location one evening. She hired a photographer. She took pictures and pictures of her posing next to each of the vehicles. Nice pictures. REALLY NICE pictures. So nice that I haven’t shown ONE single person ANY of them. That’s when she told me that the thing she was trying to do was to take a few pictures and to let me choose which one or ones that would like to get enlarged into like a big picture and put on the wall.