Merry Christmas and Happy New year! I said last year that 2021 couldn’t come soon enough. Little did I know that 2021 would come with a lot of 2020’s baggage and some new issues of its own. Regardless, I wanted to take this opportunity to personally thank your family for supporting our family through another “interesting” year.
I turned 40 this year ????. I know what some of you are thinking. Some of you are “well invested” in your 40s and would long to go back to those glory days. Others of you may feel me, and are clinging on to your perceived youth as long as possible. I say perceived…because I regularly wake up with aches and pains with no logical source of ailment; a sign of the times I guess. Last year also surely aged me a few years with all the covid stress of restrictions and lockdowns. Im am grateful to be past all that 2020 nonsense.
Crazily enough though, enter 2021 and we are blessed to have had our best year ever. This year also brought us a couple of new faces to our staff. We are seriously stacked from side to side (never liked “top to bottom”) with the best group of guys. Everyone shows up on time, ready to work, and ready to take care of our clients in the best way possible. Our glowing reviews from people like you are a testament to their hard work.
Speaking of great people! Many of you are probably aware that our shop, along with many other homes in the pelham area, flooded a few months ago. It was a helpless feeling to see all that water inside and not be able to do a single thing about it. Insurance took care of our customer’s vehicles that were damaged but unfortunately doesn’t cover anything in relation to our own damages. Needless to say it was an expensive and timely task to clean up, repair, and still maintain some sense of normal workload amidst all the construction. I was, however, humbled by some very nice cards and gifts sent our way from people like you to people like us. It blew me away to witness your generosity towards our business and family.
Speaking of family, here is a quick update of what’s going on with ours. Sam turned 14 and will start high school next year. Lawd help us! He is quickly approaching my height, but I am quick to remind him that I can still take him! Grey just turned 12 and spends about 6hrs a week at highpoint climbing on their climbing team. He has an engineering mind and loves all things motorized too. Bo turned 11 this year. I have the honor of assistant coaching his Briarwood soccer team. He is such a neat kid. Into all things fishing and mountain biking. Charli is 9 and rounding out her last year at Inverness Elementary. She started playing competitive soccer this year and crushed it. Clearly it has paid dividends for her to have 3 older brothers play before her. Greta (the glue) is homeschooling the boys and will bring Charli home to join that regimen next year. I mentioned last year how Greta makes my lunch almost everyday…and I’m here to confirm 2021 has been no different. I’m a blessed man!
Adoption wise not much has changed. We started the process of adopting a blind child from China in 2019. We were set to travel in March of 2020 to bring him home but Covid happened. Unfortunately, China/USA relations are still not great and travel has still not been approved. It is a really weird place to be just waiting for something that you feel like may never come. He is about to celebrate his 14th birthday in January and it’s hard to believe he won’t be here with us when that happens. God’s timing is the right timing, but it still is hard to wait.
As for me personally this year has definitely been better than the last in a lot of ways, but not without its own surprises. Parts, tires, and supplies are getting harder to come by with really no rhyme or reason as to why. The majority of us took home COVID at some point this year but everyone managed to get through it just fine. The highlight of my year came earlier this summer though with my family in Colorado. Like the rest of America, we ventured west this summer and it was absolutely breathtaking. God did some really cool things when he made the western part of our country. In the words of the great Ferris Bueller, “If you have the means, I highly recommend it”. Please know that our family is extremely grateful for your support each and every year. Many of you travel great distances to allow us to service your vehicles and that is not something we take lightly. We could not do what we do without you guys. So THANK YOU and MERRY CHRISTMAS!
With much love,
Bob Carter – President The Garage
