2000 – 2003 Years in Review
I can honestly say that the last ten years of my life have been the most difficult, most horrendous, most wonderful, most exciting, most stable, most erratic in my 37 years of life. The 70′s were fun, the 80′s were a blast, the 90′s just plain incredible. I guess I was due a decade of pain and hardship balanced out with a wonderful child and growing old.
The year 2000 found me in Jacksonville, FL. At the change from 1999 to 2000 I was inside of the apartment in Windsor Park watching the ball drop. Jocelyn was falling asleep on the couch and I kissed her good night and we went to bed. On my birthday I was married and we had possibly the worst honeymoon ever in Tampa Bay. Lost my wedding ring the first night that we were there, Jocelyn had flushed it down the toilet on accident, then I lost $50 in the pool. Shortly after we got back to Jax and I was unemployed. 4 months later, the greatest gift ever was given to me. Jocelyn was pregnant. The rest of the year was a blur. I worked at Encore Development, then got laid off and moved on to Citibank. We rented a house on Canyon Trail West. I made many friends during that period of time, Thomas Chi, Homer Gaines, Tennille Herron, David Knighton, and Kimberly Terion Miller stand out the most.
2001 was even more of a blur. Molly was 8 days late and ended up being born at 531am Feb 14th/ Around June of that year I found myself without a job again, then 9/11 happened. I remember sitting there watching with amazement. I called my folks in Korea and Joe and Judy in LA. Molly slept most of the time, but I carried her around while watching everything happen. She was totally oblivious obviously, but this was definitely a defining moment in the history of the United States. I finally got a job in October of 2001, with a company called Alliance Mortgage in Jacksonville.That was the first step into an industry that would become prevalent in my life for the remainder of the decade. I met Sean Marsh, who became one of my closest friends for the remainder of this decade. Molly dressed like a cow on her first Halloween.
2002 started out horrendously. We had been married for about a year and a half and our marriage looked to be pretty much over. I sucked it up and managed to get through 2002 still together. My father retired and my mom and dad moved in with us that year. I hated Jacksonville, I hated the people, I hated everything about the place and the people. I spent a full year at Alliance Mortgage without losing my job, the longest I had held a job ever. We were living in the house with my mom, dad, and Molly. We had two dogs, Flash and Princess. Things were ok, but I definitely had to find a way out of that hell hole.
2003 brought out many different emotions. It was a great year with Molly and Jocelyn, it was also a great year with the family as a whole. I still had a great dislike for the south and southern people. My best friend was leaving Alliance and starting up a company in Southern California with his friends. I was hating life, by the end of the year I had gotten fired from Alliance Mortgage, Sean Marsh helped me out and decided to hire me as their web developer in San Diego. The end of the year was fairly dramatic as it was going to be my last Christmas in Jacksonville. On January 2nd, 2004, I would board a plane to Los Angeles, on January 5th, I would report to San Diego and start work with a company called Discount National Mortgage, located off of Fay Avenue in the city of La Jolla.
