I am almost certain Wynne Dory’s tires were the original tires. Though they had great tread, one trip through a carwash had parts of the tire flaking off last night. So, I just put four new tires on my car. Ironically, the amount is covered by my tax return.
🙂 Wynne Dory has new shoes.
Tonight I drove home with my teeth chattering because I haven’t had a/c in a car for over 6 years, and I cranked it, just because I could! The car is definitely old school, but everything seems to work. The tires have great tread on them and I even have cruise control again. The radio works, and more importantly, I can adjust the volume. So many things on this car work that didn’t on my old one, so while it doesn’t have all the “bells and whistles” it is already by far better than what I had.
The couple that gave me the car (it was her mother’s and she passed away in December) were two of the sweetest people ever. The lady cried when she saw how happy and excited I was about the car and said her mother would have loved to know how much this gift meant.
The couple delivered it this afternoon with a full gas tank and offered to pay the title transfer costs. I am still stunned that all this has happened in three days. I drove around for a while, just because I could.
I decided to name my car Wynne Dory. (Like Winn Dixie, only cooler…lol). Wynne represents me (means fair, white, and blessed) and Dory represents what she is (a gift of God). So Wynne Dory is a gift of God to the fair, white and blessed lady that drove her home tonight.
The license plate number even has a Z in it.
About a week and a half ago, I let go of the quest to get another car. I can’t afford a car payment and I decided that, instead of rushing out and buying another car I really couldn’t afford, I would instead choose the option of walking and catching rides to work. I came to grips with the notion that I would not be driving until 2008 (while saving money to get a decent car).
Well, the most amazing thing happened today.
One of the ladies I work with, M, has this wonderful husband, B. B used to work at the church I work for. He and his wife are two of the sweetest people on earth.
Anyway, B calls me today and says, “I have a car for you,” and gives me a phone number to call. I could hardly believe my ears.
Apparently this lady’s 90 year old mother died just before Christmas and she wants to GIVE her car away.
GIVE.
As in no money down, thank you.
So B speaks up and says, “I know someone who needs a car,” and she said she’d love to give it to me.
It’s a 92 Buick (Century or Regal, she couldn’t remember) with only 60,000 miles on it. It’s dark blue and B said the interior of it (this is what he’s recollected) is like new. I don’t know what condition the car is in, but supposedly this lady took good care of it, and if it lasts me a year or two, I’ll be thrilled.
I’m doing the dance of joy right now… which should never be seen in public.
The longer I crunch the numbers in my pursuit of transportation, the more I realize that I will be without a car longer than I thought. I’ve realized this is okay, it’s just another adjustment I’ll have to make. I have plenty of rides to and from work and am within walking distance of a grocery store, drug store, and a mall. I am going to invest in a pair of comfy shoes.
Yesterday, I parked my car and I’m not driving it again. It was getting too scary to drive and rather than get stranded away from home, I decided to get it here and park it. It’s beyond fixing for me. I’m not putting another dime into her.
14 years and 129,000 miles (50,000 are mine) and she’s ready to retire. This is the car I’ve had the longest. I shall miss our adventures, driving to Galveston, the tumbleweeds getting stuck underneath her in San Angelo, and… never knowing what electrical issue she’d have next.
In 21 years of driving, I’ve had three cars. My first was a tan 1979 Chevy Chevette that had four snowtires on it year round that I named Clovis (after the chocolate milk commercial — chocolate milk comes from chocolate cows, right Clovis?). Clovis had a little shimmy at 90 mph, but that little car could move! It also could hold 11 high school students (don’t ask) or my very large little brother, our friend Joe, and his 10 speed to go to baseball practice.
Clovis never had a/c (in Indiana that’s optional) but he had a kickin’ stereo system courtesy of my older brother, who installed the cassette stereo for me and made big speaker boxes (spray painted gold) for the back. I drove Clovis from 1985 – 1991, when it died the weekend I graduated from college.
In 1991, I bought a 1988 Chevy Cavalier that had power nothing and in which the car stereo was stolen from it when I first moved to Houston in 1994. The last two years, this car did not have a/c. In 1998, Rosie (she was red) got some water in her computer when I found myself in water up to the car doors during one of Houston’s rare (cough, cough) flash floods. In the end, she wasn’t worth fixing and off she went. RIP Rosie.
In 1998, I drove my dad’s old car (Ruthie Buick) from Indiana to Houston with a friend. At the time, the car was only 5 years old and in great shape. The a/c worked (until that fateful day in 2000 when it was 106 degrees and it went out). The electrical issues were non-existent then. As with any car I’ve had, the issues started almost immediately upon my ownership. Ruthie was no different. The alternator goes out every 12-18 months beginning the year I drover her down here. With me not having the money to take care of Ruthie properly, I suffered through 6 years of no a/c and a myriad of other electrical issues. So, as I said, yesterday, I parked her, and there she shall stay until someone comes to take her away.
And now, I have to find a way to get another car. I’ve never shopped for one, and heaven knows, I don’t know how I’m going to pay for one. So, rather than buy the first thing that comes along, I’ve been doing a lot of research and hopefully I’ll find something affordable (and hopefully reliable) soon.
I’m really fighting with myself over this feeling of failure. I have failed, yet again, to provide for myself. I’ve learned my lesson, I now live within my means, I’m getting my debt down to a more controllable level, and I’ve been credit card sober for over a year now. While I am happy with all that progress, I still have a way to go.
I don’t doubt that God has it all under control and that I’ll come out on the other side of this with a wonderful story to tell. I have a roof over my head, it’s warm in my room (it’s only about 40 outside and it’s raining), I have food to eat, and in a week or two, I’ll have fluffy towels again. I pay my bills on time, and I have everything I need. I feel greedy asking for more, but I will anyway, because I have not because I ask not.
God, I ask you for the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference… and the motivation to do something about the things I can change. Amen.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Okay, I’m curious… have any of you named a car? I’ve had three cars in 18 years. I named my first car, a 1979 tan chevette, Clovis (it was a chocolate milk commerical that included a chocolate cow named Clovis…I was 16…what can I say?). My second car… was a 1988 red Chevy Cavalier that I named Cephas. Cephas is Greek for Peter/which means Rock. I was in my I just graduated from a Christian college and I know a bunch of cool Greek biblical words and I’m so cool phase. I also chose it because my German name in German class was Petra (Petra means Rock, literally and it’s also a Petra album… and if you don’t know who I’m talking about you are either too young to read this blog or you have never listened to Christian music. Either way, welcome). My third car, my current, formerly berry, now dusky fawn car, is named Ruthie from a Tony Evans sermon that talked about, “God knows where Boaz lives..” (If Boaz is new to you, read the book of Ruth in the Bible. It is a story of God’s faithfulness in desperate times).
So, I have Clovis, Cephas, and Ruthie. Anybody else ever name their car? If so, what did you name yours?
Sassy Dreams Awake 