Monday, March 9, 2009

A Man, A Truck and Ebay

This past week I found myself on a bit of an ebay kick. I bought two Cricut cartridges I've been wanting and a Cricut Tote Carrier. I got them all at a great price!

But it reminded me of how the "redneck" truck came into our possession and the hilarious story behind it.

A couple of winters ago Mark got a new car. He got the "man toy", a Saab convertible. It promptly went into storage that winter while he continued driving the Durango. In April of that year Ben got his drivers license and he inherited the Durangeo which meant Mark was now driving the Saab full time. All was well until winter came around again. That's when Mark declared that he couldn't drive the Saab in the wintertime. For goodness sake it might get wet! :) So he decided to look for a beater truck that he could pay cash for to drive in the wintertime. Besides, then we would have it to "haul stuff" when we needed to.

The other thing you must know about Mark is that while he works on a computer all day he really doesn't surf the internet. Ever. Not ever. So he knows nothing about wonderful sites like ebay.

So, I'm at work one day and Mark calls me and says his boss told him about ebay and he is just looking around and wondered if we have a password already set with them. Since I have been buying and selling on ebay for years, of course we do! He asked what it is, I gave it to him and THEN I asked if he was placing a bid. He said yes, I asked on what, and he said.........a TRUCK!!! Hellooooo, most people start small on ebay!

Long story short, Mark won his first and only ebay auction and was now the owner of a beater truck....soon to be called the redneck truck because of the lift kit, camaflouge seat covers, and the loudest muffler ever! I swear I could hear him pull into the subdivision's entrance at night.

The truck lived up to its reputation. We constantly had to have it towed in for repair. So much so that I was sure AAA was going to cancel us for taking unfair advantage of the towing package.

But the best story was the muffler fiasco. Mark put an extender on the muffler as a way of keeping the gas fumes from filling up the truck cab but also to try and muffle some of the noise. So one day Mark takes the redneck truck over to the high school parking lot just as school is letting out (I don't remember why) and just as Ben and his friends approach the truck, it backfires, and the extension on the muffler comes flying off! Now I still find that story funny to the point of laughing until my stomach hurts. However, a 17 year old boy does NOT! And Ben forever refused to drive that truck.

I did one time though. My sister-in-law and I where moving items for a garage sale from her house to mine and we used the truck. We tied down all the items in the back and began driving down Hickory Road. We looked so much like the Beverly Hillbillies that Raton took pictures of it. And since the seat was broken and I could barley reach the peddle with the tip of my big toe, I could only drive 20 miles an hour....no more. It gave all the other drivers plenty of time to laugh and point at us!

Sadly, the redneck truck died one time too many for Mark and he got rid of it right after Christmas this year. But that's not the end of truck buying for Mark. He bought another one. This one large and BRIGHT yellow. We call it the yellow submarine. And he bought it..........

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from a dealer, his ebay days are OVER!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Happy Birthday Ben


Yesterday Ben turned 18. And as he is so fond of reminding me, he is now considered an adult in many ways. He has been teasing me for weeks of all the things he can do when he turns 18....none of them good in my opinion! He can now buy tobacco, lottery tickets, get a tattoo, get piercings, rent porn and my favorite....buy a gun! Yicks....a mother's worst nightmare!

Teasing aside, I have seriously seen him mature and grow more responsible this year as he (and I) prepare for him to leave home in the fall. I was prepared to feel some sadness yesterday. Afterall, it's not easy watching your children grow up and realizing they will never be little again. I heard once that being a mother is like living with your heart outside your body for the rest of your life. An apt description I think.


What I wasn't prepared for yesterday was how proud I felt when looking at him. I remember on his first day of preschool the director, Mrs. Lennon, telling us how this was the first step of giving our children wings. The first letting go. And I remember sitting in that room and thinking "will I ever be ready to really let go?" And the answer is, not really. He may be 18 but he'll always be my child. I'm learning to step aside and let him make his own decisions and his own mistakes but I'll always be here to catch him if he falls. That's just what moms do.


Happy Birthday Ben. I love you with all my heart.
Mom


"Good parents give their children roots and wings. Roots to know where home is, and wings to fly away and exercise what's been taught them" - Jonas Salk