Bought my Dad a new car...but not a Hummer!

These pictures were taken earlier this month. Mom and Dad decided to ride to Louisville with us. We ate at Claudia Sanders Restaurant which is where the pictures were taken. Who knew the Sanders drove Hummers?

At first glance of this post title, one might think "Wow..how gratuitous...". Read on. I'm going to give my niece, Jessica, a run for her money in regard to LOB (length of blog) - maybe Teri too, but we'll see since I just started this one.

You'll likely see a lot more acronyms as I get more into this. I work in a world of highly over-educated information technology (IT) folks who have nothing better to do than to redefine their, and sometimes our, world making it more complicated so as to justify their worth to an organization. It's sort of like the US Government. I've worked with the US Gov as a consultant and I understand clearly why our deficit is 17 trillion dollars and growing.

I was working with this lady a few years ago - very much an ultra type A. She asked me a few questions to gauge whether or not I was worth her time, and then she bounced off and said, "Great, let's have a collaborative..". I sat down at my desk, laughed and sent her a meeting notice - not a collaborative notice.

When I decided to blog, I didn't want it just to be about the stuff I do everyday - you'd put a gun in your mouth. We live a simple life, and it would likely be very boring to most folks. Kelli and I often do things and love it while thinking - no one else would spend this much time doing this - hanging pictures is an example. It's a 15 minute geometry / algebra class before a nail goes in the wall.

I want this blog to be more about important things in life with a few fun things thrown in along the way. I'm a grave person, but I also like to cut-up and have fun. Kelli tells me often she had no idea that I was so funny, and it's usually after I've said something that I did not intend to be funny.

The first important piece of information is that Kelli had another baby doc visit yesterday, and all is well.

So, back to the post title. When I say I bought my Dad a new car, I didn't provide the funds to buy the car, I negotiated the price for him. My dad is 77 years old and he doesn't hear well. He's a good old soul. If you know him, he's a wonderfully gentle and soft spoken man. Very patient and very kind. My Dad is a very smart man even though he's not a very educated man. I think if he'd ever had the opportunity to go to college, he'd be a retired professor - that's how much he loves learning and figuring things out.

So, I found them this "cross-over vehicle" to replace their 11 year old Explorer with. The Explorer had nearly 90K miles on it. Mom was voicing her displeasure through the entire selection process. "There is not one thing wrong with the Explorer...", she said. Dad was all for it - as he usually is about any good thing that improves their life. And, why not? - they should use their money to make these golden years comfortable and enjoyable. Life has enough opportunities to drag us down.

This got me to thinking. They are from a different era - born during the depression. Folks born then are skeptical and I think we need to be a bit more like that too. My Dad has said, "I was born during the Depression, but we were so poor we didn't even know there was one...". We should be grateful even in these uncertain times.

Negotiating the car price was such a simple act that I did for my Dad and he was so appreciative that I had taken the time to do this for them. The entire selection process had taken a couple weeks and included, doing research as to how much the Explorer was worth, how much is the new car really worth, speculating how much the dealer will actually take, what are the reviews of the new car, is the car practical for a couple in their upper 70s and finally creating a spreadsheet of the final offer options that we presented to the dealer. Over the course of two weeks, I had put in quite a few hours time. However, seeing the pride on his face when we drove the new vehicle home, was worth every second spent. Don't get me wrong, I love doing research like that - I do it before we spend one penny on anything. And, by the way, Mom loved the car too when we got it home and she got to drive it.

So, after it was all said and done, and we sat at his computer checking the bank account online to make sure there was enough money in his account to cover the check he had just written, I noted how he asked the same question every time we did this. "I go to the Internet", I go to Favorites, I go to..", and he seeks confirmation every time before he clicks. "one click or two", he asks as he proceeds. Once on the web page, every time without fail, when I say scroll down or up, he rolls the wheel on the mouse the wrong way. I just sat back and chuckled inside as I watched his big old farm fingers clanking around on the keyboard - what a wonderful way to spend bonding with my Dad. Yes, it takes a lot of time each week when I do this type of thing with him, but then I think. Someday, I won't be able to watch those big old fingers blunder around on the keyboard or instruct him on how to do something that is as foreign to him as milking a cow by hand is to me. Someday, he either won't be able to do it or he will be gone.

I want to cherish every moment with my folks and I pray my son or daughter will take the time do do something like this with me when I get older. Spend quality time with your parents because they truly are gems of wisdom to our world.

Enjoy your weekend!