It’s Tesla day! After putting in my Model Y reservation months ago, the day was finally here. At 1:00p.m., I made my way to the Eden Prairie Tesla dealership for my new electric vehicle. I’ve been trying to mentally prepare myself for this reality. As the delivery grew closer, I braced for some tragic black swan event. This car was the culmination of my 2020 and 2021 NFT ambitions, which meant paying for it was going to be a crypto-to-cash transaction. I’ve never done a transfer like this, so I anticipated all kinds of delays and restrictions or interferences.
The stress of making sure my bank and payment information was order, and the looming incentive of trying to somehow delay the payment until after January 1st to quality for $10K in tax deductions with the recently passed infrastructure bill, I was hoping for some leniency from Tesla to buy some time. I will tell you, they weren’t having it. I emailed the dealership and talked with the delivery team directly, and they didn’t want my car on the lot an hour beyond the two hour pick up window. “There just isn’t any room”, they kept saying.
Fortunately, I managed to evade Murphey’s law and to my surprise, everything went through without an issue. Exchange, to bank, to eCheck to Tesla. That was when it started settling in for me. Arriving at the dealership, my car was waiting for me at the front of a giant lot filled with new cars waited to be picked up. The, “There just isn’t any room.”, comment wasn’t hyperbole. I signed three papers, then I was walked to the lot. I expected a formal explanation by the Tesla representative but it was so casual, it felt like I was doing something wrong by sitting in the car and him nonchalantly saying, “Cool. Enjoy your car. Have fun!”.
Psychologically, I’m working through some things. Growing up in Scranton, PA, we were all pretty much on or below the poverty line. Once I left the dealership, I began feeling a sense of guilt. That, followed by a sense that something was going to happen. It was going to be stolen or the salesperson would call me saying there was a mistake and I needed to bring it back. That inability to enjoy the moment is the clearest example of trauma brain I can think of in my life. Growing up without a lot and not being present when you finally have something.
I’m kind of reeling from all of this. I’ve been reflecting on this journey and without exaggeration, Hive was my first step on the path. This was my introduction to blockchain and cryptocurrency, and thus, how I discovered NFT’s. This car was bought with a variety of investments and earnings, but you can be sure a portion of this Tesla was bought with Hive! Much of this post is a gratitude to Hive for becoming a life-changing platform for me and so many that write and contribute here daily. For now, I’m going to try and slow my manic mind but there will be much more Tesla content to come now that it’s home with me.
