shiny, clean, and protected

Because the universe is a right cruel bastard/bitch, two months after taking delivery of my car last year, I was swept up in the ever-so-entertaining world of shingles and its "uncommon complication" postherpetic neuralgia. On my trigeminal nerve, no less, with optic nerve and corneal involvement. So in addition to the pain (holy shit, the pain, great googly moogly), I was also gifted with no vision out of my right eye for months (which in turn caused the left eye to squint and water), then extremely limited use of the eye for another month after that. Plus medications that played merry havoc with my balance, memory, digestion, speech, and (oh, cruel irony) visual acuity.

All of that combined meant my poor car sat for six months, sad and forlorn, the red light of the trickle charger blink-blink-blinking away. For another three months after that, I wasn't able to drive for any distance or useful period of time, so minimal miles were added to the poor thing's already neglected odometer.

I'm still fighting the neuralgia, still fighting the pain, but it's finally settling into a routine. I'm much more familiar with the triggers, the twitches, the nausea, the fallout, the rebound, and the exhaustion that come with living with nerve damage and chronic/constant pain. That means I can start driving more (huzzah!), and to celebrate and because he's awesome, Will arranged to have my car fully clear-wrapped by our friends at SS Customs (they've done multiple cars of ours, including the camo wrap on the McLaren for the GG2H rally a few years back).

We picked up my car today and grabbed a few pics on the way home, before it got too many bug guts splattered on it. I love the look of a freshly detailed car, especially one that now has a protective vinyl wrap keeping it safer from chips, dings, bugs, washing, and all the other things that would turn its paint into scratchy swirls, annoying divots, and faded patches.

Here's hoping the universe keeps its grubby little paws off the Bad Luck Stick for a while, so I can put some well-deserved miles on this puppy...