It is late Friday afternoon and I am driving the loaner back to the car dealership to pick up my car hoping it is truly fixed.
This is my second trip out there and I am frustrated because I have 3 hours left to take care of 27 hours worth of work.
This is the car I purchased last year, the new one I picked up knowing that twenty years ago it would have looked like I was driving ‘dad’s car’ but now I am dad.
It is the one that made the drive back from LA to Texas far more comfortable than the prior vehicle for more reasons than satellite radio.
That’s because 20 years ago lumbar support and seat warmers were nice but my twenty something year-old body didn’t care.
Today, well I notice when I do or don’t have those things.
Sesame Street Kids Are Getting Older
Sometimes the boys and I talk about it, getting older that is.
We talk about the little changes we are starting to notice, such as sometimes having to answer nature’s call if we drink too much before bed and the mystery aches and pains.
Exercise tips and routines are exchanged and we figure if we work a bit harder at improving our diets and exercise a little bit harder we won’t have to worry about old age the same way as some of the people we have watched age before us.
But we have also taken note of what has happened to some friends and family and contemporaries.
Some of them have gotten sick with things that aren’t simple colds or the flu.
My best guess is that some of this is natural in the sense that it is statistically sound to see these things, but I don’t know if that is accurate or just what we say to make ourselves feel better.
I used to play ball with a guy who had done two tours in Iraq who told me trying to make sense of life was something assholes and jerks did.
Haven’t seen or heard from him since he left for Afghanistan.
Sometimes when life is particularly challenging I think about him and figure no one is shooting at me.
Musical Intermission
Grabbed these in no particular order or reason, because I needed a moment to figure out where I felt like taking this.
- That’s Why God Made The Radio– The Beach Boys
- God Only Knows– The Beach Boys
- Time In A Bottle– Jim Croce
- Lonely People– America
- Goodbye Mr. Hooper– Sesame Street
- Evil Woman– ELO
- Do Ya– ELO
- Another Tricky Day– The Who
- Goodbye Stranger– Supertramp
- AM Radio– Everclear
- Car wash– Rose Royce
The Conversations I Will Have
One of these days some of you and I are going to have a real conversation about some of the stuff that is going on.
We’ll clear the air and share information and life will go wherever it goes.
Got a short list of the people I need to have that talk with and it is more than one.
In a couple of weeks my oldest turns 16 and we’ll definitely have a few of those moments and I expect in the back of my head I’ll try to reconcile how the baby became a giant.
Some of my contemporaries already find themselves looking up at and or sharing clothes with their kids but I don’t know if we are quite there yet.
I think I still have a little height and I know I am still broader across the shoulders, but it won’t be long.
Told someone last night “those days are gone” and wasn’t surprised with the less than enthusiastic response.
Some changes are coming and some have already happened.
Truth & Consequences
The service advisor at the dealer tells me they discovered the problem with the car is a corrupt thumb drive.
It makes me laugh to think a 64 GB drive full of music is the reason things went a little haywire with the touchscreen and Nav system.
Can’t tell you how the drive was corrupted but I can tell you we have come a long way from the days where I would try to save money by pulling a power steering unit from a wreck.
The aforementioned almost 16 year-old son tells me he can’t think of any friends who have ever worked on a car and I shake my head.
I certainly wasn’t an expert at fixing my cars but I have done more than change the wipers and then have played around with getting an older car or two to tinker with.
Saw a few ’67 Camaros on eBay that caught my eye and dreamed a little dream.
Auction prices ranged from $3,500 to mid $30s which probably means some of them are going to require a very significant investment to get them to a place beyond just running.
For the moment these are nothing but dreams and not just because I don’t have a garage right now.
I just can’t justify spending the cash right now, but I might have it in the not so distant future.
That son of mine likes to build and this could be one hell of a project for the two of us to take on.
There is a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that comes from working with your hands that you can’t get any other way.
And there is a lot to be said for making sure we are active and not sitting behind a computer, but between you and me I fear the consequences of such a project.
I can see myself getting sucked into it and spending lots o money on this new hobby.
Since it is not happening any time soon I am not going to waste time worrying about it.
But thinking about it makes me smile, maybe it is because the flip side of getting a little longer in the tooth is knowing what dreams are fantasy and what are possibility.
And well you know me, if I see possibility I know there is a good chance I can turn it into opportunity…maybe.
