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Saturday, April 1, 2017

And the rest of the story....happy ever after part of a happy birthday day..no foolin!

Serendipity, good fortune, good karma, a change in our luck: call it what you will we'll take it! Todaay was a good day and not just because we celebrated Peter's 15th birthday- but the happy birthday guu-guu may have helped.  The day started with calling Pap for two sided happy birthday greetings. We do love the double birth anniversary.  It seems like yesterday we were all walking all over town for Easter Egg hunts to help bring on labor. He arrived on a Monday, my Dad's 60th birthday, THE Opening Day of Baseball and the NCAA basketball finals!  Being loyal to my sports fan I pushed him out in time to get us to recovery to watch both The Reds and Maryland that year.

Back to the story!  As I mentioned in the last post, we had a strange disappearance of our beloved car Martha- a 2002 Toyota Sequoia.  We set in motion the replacement process.  First we talk- what are we looking for, what do we need?  Match that to what we like and think makes sense based on market prices and availability.  My gut said- keep it the same, go with another Sequoia or upgrade to the Lexus versiou. However if we're looking, why not think about changing things up- the kids are bigger, bucket seats would be nice. Maybe we go with the GMC product?  I do love a wagon and couldn't help but search for dream wagons.  I've always admired the Ford Flex....is now the time?

Joe found a Sequoia that was a good price and had good mileage- however the private seller was out of town.  During my search I found a crossover Mercedes that might of been a fit.  We decided we should take a look and headed to Columbus before picking Clare up at the airport, she spent Spring Break in Maryland, lucky duck!

As we pulled into the lot with used cars only the first thing we saw:  a white Sequoia that looked so much like Martha.  We looked closely- it was not Martha.  Joe found our salesperson and asked for both keys.  Sally and Peter went into immediate high excitement mode. I felt they were overreacting. The Mercedes wasn't going to offer the storage we need and wasn't in the shape where we could even consider it. A great price but not a fit.  The Sequoia looked good, but it felt too good, to surreal.  We took it for a drive and Joe did his math and we couldn't say no.

So now in our drive way we have a 2007 Toyota Sequoia with bucket seats! Yes, bucket seats.  The kids went nuts because it also has a DVD player built in- something I said I'd never have.  Clare reminded me of that...ha ha- never say never.  It is clean and drives like a dream.  Amazing.  How could it be that easy to keep us moving (pun intended). Good fortune, happy karma, a change in our luck, serendipity? Whatever it is - it will be part of the naming of  what we're now calling "Martha II and the new Martha".

Yes, we'll have maintenance - when you buy a used car you always do.  It does have a lot of miles- we buy cars with engines that go long distances.  We're aware of the schedule and what needs to be replaced soon and added that to our negation on the price.  I feel good about our choice, I feel like this was meant to be.  I'm not opposed to change, but as I thought about what this car will do for our family including carrying us on college searches and hopefully delivery to college. What stickers will be added to the back of this SUV?  Our beloved, tried and true make and model is what we were meant to have- no foolin! We get a happy ever after to the stranger things story in our lives on Newark-Granville Road.  April 1st, new quarter, new month, the real arrival of Spring- happy fresh start for 2017, grateful for mobility with a soon to be named, Martha II.

PS-Ankle update too:  one crutch and often none, boot supporting me, physical therapy helping and feeling good. Some aches when I work  too hard or don't do my exercises.  Driving feels great, takes time as I take the boot off to put on a shoe- but it works!


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