Then and Now

A friend of mine shared a photo of a really epic Camaro he’s bidding on. It’s going to be his new toy. That’s cool. We’ve got toys, too. My two favorite toys are the camper and the riding mower. My pickup ranks up there, as well. Mr. FixIt’s old truck has 222K miles on it now, I’ve learned. We need something fairly economical and reliable that will last us. So we bought a 2002 Lincoln Continental yesterday with only 52.8K miles. That’ll last us a while, I’m guessing. We only paid $7500 for it and in today’s used car market, that’s epic. There’s just one thing….

I feel so OLD when I drive this thing. It’s like…a GRANDMA car! Or…what I always considered a Grandma car…back before I became a hip grandma who towed a 30’ camper back and forth across the country with an uber cool F-150. It’s depressing. Then, I remind myself…

First world problem, Ginny.

“God brought you a reliable, affordable, and comfortable ride! Why can’t you just be grateful and leave it be?” Suitably chastised by my own better angels, I realized it’s true. So…in the photos on the left…I was in my early 50’s, working at a 5 Star resort in southern Colorado, with two young grandbabies. I wasn’t a widow yet. In the photos on the right…I am in the last gasp of my 60’s and I AM a grandma. Heck, I’m a GREAT GRANDMA. As in…we have four great-grandchildren thanks to marrying Mr. FixIt. I’ve been a widow for close to ten years. Of COURSE I’m going to look, act, and feel my age. At least part of the time!

Before we picked up the new-to-us car, we drove out to the farm to survey the damage from last night’s flash flood. It is SO bad out there. There are a few people who lost a lot. Most people lost some things and have a whale of a mess to clean up. As far as I know, there haven’t been any injuries or fatalities reported. They are working with the office of emergency preparedness to try to get some help from FEMA.

The neighbors across the road had a lot of damage. Three bridges wiped out.

After we finished with the car sale, we went to the DMV to get the tags, then Mr. FixIt and I parted ways for the rest of the afternoon. I took the car over to one of the MANY new car washes that have sprung up all over our little hometown. Once I ran it through the wash, I took the towels provided and wiped off all the sap from the trees the car was parked under before we bought it. It cleaned up really well. There are only a couple little cosmetic things wrong with it…a little bubbling in the chrome in the front grill, the rear driver’s side seatbelt doesn’t work, and the headliner has come loose at the back by the rear window. Not bad at all for a twenty year old car.

Our power will be off all day today, so we are going to stay in a hotel in town at least one night…maybe both nights of the reunion this weekend. It’s going to be really hot and muggy and that will NOT be fun with the AC out. This way we can get all dressed up in comfort before we go to the party.

It’s gonna be fun, y’all!

“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Philippians 4:19-20 ESV

4 thoughts on “Then and Now”

We had a white one like that and one Sunday driving to church someone zoomed around my husband and pulled in front of him and he said, “Now why did he do that?” And I said, “Because this is an old man car and he thought you were most likely an old man going to slow!” and laughed…He sped up and said really??? YOU think this is an old man car? I said well yes and it makes me feel like a grandma! ( I was only around 48) It wasn’t long until we had candy apple red carriage top Cadillac and somehow I did not feel old in that car at all!! I think that was the replacement. My husband traded a red Avalanche in for the Lincoln not knowing that I loved that red truck!! Great story about yours!