Five Years
On February 15th, 2001, I signed the papers on my first car purchase(I needed a co-signer), at O'Brien Mitsubishi, on Pioneer Parkway, in Peoria, IL. I drove my first car, a 1998 Galant ES with five on the floor and 140 horses of raw Diamond Star power. I sat down with Dad, Amy, Rachel, and Josh Whitmore, for my last dinner as a resident at the house in Peoria.

Josh and I, equipped with CB radios, set off first for Dubuque, IA, where my meager furniture still was, left over from when I had lived there until a couple months earlier. We loaded up the couches, bed, tables, and dresser in the U-Haul Josh was driving, and fought the whiteout blowing snow toward I-80. By the time we had entered Missouri on I-35, the snow was gone, and the sun was starting to come out.

At about three in the afternoon, on February 16th, 2001, Josh and I rolled into Kansas City, and started unloading my stuff at the Bellerive, in Midtown KC, where I had secured an apartment. Dad arrived a short time after we got there, and helped bring up the rest of my stuff, and watched as I signed the lease and filled out all the paperwork for my new home.

We went to dinner that night at Pizzeria Uno, on the Plaza, and laughed at the menus' descriptions of Chicago as if it's a distant, unknowable place, having all grown up only two hours from the view of the Sears Tower.

Today, I have officially lived in Kansas City for five years, and that number astonishes me. Three apartments, three cars, four speeding tickets, four jobs, three roommates, plentiful friends, and a wonderful city.

I wonder what the next five years will bring.

Gulia brooked no delay in saying:
You have such an amazing talent with words. Glad to hear that KC has treated you well. Looking forward to visiting in April!

1:07 PM, Feb 16, 2006

Vince responded:
Happy Anniversary! 5 Years in KC...Congrats!

5:10 PM, Feb 16, 2006

Rachel cut in with:
Oh man, that is totally wicked sweet, yeah!

1:02 AM, Feb 17, 2006

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@2002-2024, John Kelly