Saturday, September 24, 2011

A tradition continues...

when Husband was 14 years young, his dad bought him a 1966 Mustang. It was the car of his dreams. And it didn't run at all. The deal was that he had to learn how to fix the car before he could drive it.

Fix it, he did. Husband rebuilt the motor, stripped out the entire interior, repainted the interior and exterior, recovered the seats, and replaced part of the dash. The car was his ongoing project. By the time he got his license, not only did he know how to take care of a car, but he knew how to Take Care of A Car. When driving this car, he was not inclined to reckless maneuvers that would endanger all of his hard work.

The benefits in our marriage have been the number of vehicles Husband has been able to keep on the road without breaking our bank account. He does all the routine maintenance as well as some major repairs.

Today, Chess and Pele received their car. Generous Uncle S. bequeathed his college 1996 Honda Accord to the boys. We had told him about Husband's upbringing, and he agreed with the philosophy. When his college car required yet another repair, he decided it was time to pass along the work. His boys are only 5 and 8 so it will be some years before they are ready to fix oil leaks. Maybe by the time his boys are ready, we will have a car to pass along.

In the meantime, my two oldest are about to take Auto Mechanics 101. And I have about a year for my heart to slow to regular rhythm while I process the fact that next summer I will have a teen driver in my house.

2 comments:

  1. Holy cow. How can it be time for that? And... I have to let mine operate heavy machinery some day?????

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  2. Think of it this way...farm kids are driving by age 4.

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