| Okay. Do you have one of these . . .? |
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| You'll need some of these. |
For years, Husby and I drove vintage cars.
Just FYI, 'vintage' is a classy name for 'old'.
Moving on . . .
Wonderful vintage cars.
They were affordable.
Comfortable.
I could sympathize with their creaking joints and less-than-stellar performance.
And they had real engines.
Or at least engines where the components were recognizable.
But they did have their drawbacks.
They really were old.
And their parts were equally old.
At times, like me, they could get . . . balky.
Allow me to illustrate . . .
We were driving a Buick.
Station wagon.
It had developed some internal problems.
Gall bladder, I think. Or, in car talk, an stubborn solenoid.
While we waited for the funds to actually fix said solenoid, we were reduced to a two-person starting method.
One to crawl under the car and whack the balky part with a hammer and the other to actually turn the key.
It worked. Sort of.
On with my story . . .
We were visiting with friends.
It was a warm summer evening.
The sky had been threatening rain all day.
Toward the end of our visit, the threat became reality.
The sky opened up and dumped everything it had on us.
At the exact time we decided we should be heading home.
Sigh.
I took up my position in the driver's seat, key inserted and ready to turn.
My Husby quickly slipped underneath the car, hammer in hand.
*Tink*. *Tink*. “Okay! Try it!”
I turned the key and the engine roared to live.
My Husby crawled out – remember, it was pouring rain at this time – and started towards the driver's door.
He paused.
Someone was laughing.
Loudly.
We both looked toward our friends' front door. The two of them were silhouetted in the light from their front room. They had watched the whole procedure.
We laughed with them.
Then my Husby shrugged and jumped into the car and we drove off.
We learned an important lesson from this.
Always choose your friends with care.
They should be fun.
Generous.
Kind.
Supportive.
Loyal.
And be able to laugh you through your car troubles.
My husband was just reminiscing about a 1961 Ford Fairlane he drove ack in 1969. If it had more than a couple of passengers he had to stop every 30 miles to keep it from overheating. Aren’t old vehicles fun? Yes, the friends who put up with them even more fun.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, we should choose friends who love to laugh, even if it's sometimes at us.
ReplyDeleteThe ability to find humour in everyday life, even in the troubles, is so important!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't help thinking (while agreeing with you completely) that a really generous friend would have done the crawling under the car thing...
ReplyDeleteWe've had our share of car troubles, but I was never the one who had to crawl under the car, thank goodness.
ReplyDeleteNice that your friends watched from the dry safety of their doorway to make sure you got underway okay.