'02 VW Beetle

Wednesday November 21, 2012

My wife kissed me good bye at 4:00 am this morning for her last of a 6 day haul of 10 hour shifts, which doesn't include the daily 2 hour commute to a very busy Trader Joe's. We americans like to stock up for a holiday.
I will then typically go back to sleep until 6:00 am, then rise to get teenage girls to school.
I could not go back to sleep and got up to start my day. Today is worth taking note.
There is something very exciting and peculiar about being in my mid fifties. It's like, I know I'm going to die, I just don't know when or how but just that it's closer than it used to be. So wake up and enjoy each and every precious moment that is unfolding. I say that out of pure gratitude.
My day starts with a crisply made bed which I realize I have done ALL my life. My Dad was a marine, so chores and order went with the territory and it was how a family of 10 operated.
My faithful dog Gypsi follows me out to the coffe pot. What's up with that kind of unconditional love?  I swing open the frig to grab my cream for coffee, but there is a quart of egg nog in front of the 1/2 and 1/2. What the hell. Cheers !
By 7:00 am this morning I will have my 19 year old son up, (he is usually getting to bed by 6:00 am).
The two of us are making our way up north of Seattle. A car dealer is advertising a 2002 VW Beetle with low miles. Looks too good to be true online.

My amazing son has been working since last February and has been saving for his first car with a discipline with money that is quite impressive, and his research of which car he was going to purchase has just been as much fun as ANYTHING I've experienced in my lifetime. It's so fun to experience this whole process with him. This is one very wise shrewd young man.
So I rattle his cage at 6:08 am. He said he didn't sleep much, too excited.

We're in the Lake City district of Seatte just before 9:00 am. Not an area I thought I knew, but had sold a home very close by a few years back to a wonderful female Seattle cop. We find and park at the Bill Pierre Ford lot. It turns out, Bill Pierre has a Chevrolet lot, a Ford lot and a used car lot. We decide to park at the Ford lot which was the lot in the middle. We get out and start walking the lots to find the advertised yellow 2002 VW beetle. We did not see it and we had now walked nearly all 3 lots. I start saying things like " well maybe it sold yesterday". I am watching my words very carefully as to not break his heart, if it had sold.
It's now 9:00am and a salesman comes out and by now we (OK me) are quite frantic. My son is always as cool as a cucumber. The salesman walks us over to the car and there it was. A 2002 bright yellow VW Beetle (with very low miles). Alec starts beaming with joy as the saleman opens it up then hands him the keys for a test drive. Off we go. We are not a mile down the road and he is           S O L D. We go back to the lot and I'm hoping to have this transaction wrapped up in record time. This is the day before Thanksgiving and probably one of the worst days of the year to be on the roads. Alec has to work at 2:00 pm and I had financing, insurance and all ducks in a row for the sales force at Bill Pierre. By 10:20 am we are done and back on the I-5 southbound back to Olympia. Alec right behind me in his new bright yellow slug bug.
I can only imagine how excited he was in his new car behind me. I was sure beaming ear to ear. The rain started coming down in buckets and it became quite the adventure just getting back to Olympia.The rain let up and the bulk of the trip was over so I pulled over in DuPont and bought him some lunch before he had to go to work. As we dined, I realized I had brought a boy to Seattle but a young man was now sitting with me at lunch.
 My first vehicle was also a slug bug. A  tan 1969 VW beetle I bought in 1973. 39 years ago.
39 years ago and it seems like a few days ago. Time is a funny thing.

Later that evening our oldest daughter flew in from Los Angeles to spend 6 days with us for the Thanksgiving holiday. I have not seen her since Easter sunday back in April, I plan to figure out a way to make time stand still so I can enjoy every single moment of this stage of my life.

It's a Great Life !