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Although Eli is only eight years old he can tell me everything about cars. When he was little he was into magic tricks, then Rubik’s Cubes, of which he has hundreds. Then there were the video games. He has nearly every system available dating back all the way to the eighties. He is now a YouTuber but the one thing he loves more than anything else is his Tesla cars. He knows the history of how they are made, all the little details about the company and its founder. And he collects everything about them. He can spot make and model of any Teslas a mile away — it is truly uncanny. He has posters on the wall, electric ones, hot wheels, and even one he can sit in and drive.

Now he is trying to get me to purchase one. However, I tell him I don’t see them as practical yet. Like taking long trips one would need to plan the whole trip around charging stations. But every day that argument is getting weaker as the technology is vastly moving forward and there are more and more stations going up, seemingly by the second, and I am seeing more Tesla cars running around the local area. I told him maybe someday but for now he has to settle for his Radio flyer Tesla ride on car. And I will settle for my “yucky gas powered” Jaguar. It’s a five speed manual and it’s fun, but that doesn’t impress him because it’s not electric. Oh well, but at least I have a cool cat on the hood.

QUITTING

Lorie Ann McReynolds

Quitting. Quitting for me is something very hard to do. Just the sound of the word makes me think I am letting someone down. Even its definition sounds unpleasant, “quit — leave (a place) usually permanently.” My parents raised me with a high standard of once you make a commitment, you follow through. They taught me to work hard for everything I wanted. That nothing was handed to me. Quitting to me is like failing. I didn’t quit when I enrolled in a class to become a Certified Professional Coder. The amount of homework I had to do was enormous. The test was 5-1/2 hours long and had 150 questions. Still, I didn’t quit.

Now I realize quitting could be a blessing. Before today, I had only quit three jobs in my 51 years. My first job was at a video store in Elizabethton during my senior year in high school. I had so much fun working there but it was difficult because I lived in Bluff City, and I would get home very late. It was hard to keep up with work and school, so I had to quit. Soon after that, I worked in a department store. I found out very quickly that retail was not what I wanted to do. My favorite job that I had to quit was working for a museum. It was by far the coolest job I have ever had. But I had to leave it for a better paying job.

And now today, I turned in my notice at my part-time job. I struggled with this decision. The company is very good to me. But because of some changes I made, I didn’t need the extra income like I once did. I dreaded giving my notice — again feeling like I was letting everyone there down. And then it was like the Lord just made it very clear through a message from my supervisor. She asked if I could commit to 20 hours a week. Twenty hours doesn’t sound like a lot on its own. But combine that with a 40-hour full-time job. It doesn’t leave a lot of time for anything else. Especially church, writing my book or spending time with my feller. I have already had to turn down many offers to do things or to help with extra stuff at church with the hours I had been working.

After I turned in my notice, I felt this huge relief wash over me. This was the right decision. Now, I only have tw- weeks left to work my part-time job. I will greatly miss the people I got to know, but I will truly enjoy having more time to do what I want to do. Especially spending sweet time with the Lord. It will be very nice to have a balance back in my life.

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