The freshman rolled around 9PM last night, girlfriend in tow, ready to go to an amusement park with his older sister and her boyfriend on Saturday morning. There’s some kind of Halloween theme there - no doubt ‘spooks’ will be jumping out at you. While they are enjoying the Park I’ll be sitting in the Honda dealer getting and oil change and inspection for his car, my former old jalopy, a 2005 Honda CRV with 122,000 miles on it. I call my old gal a parking lot queen as it does a lot of sitting. The older I get the more I don’t mind waiting I see it as an opportunity to read or write.
This dreary Saturday morning starts poorly, I get in the car and immediately notice just how dirty the interior of this car is. Paper on the floor, dust everywhere and nasty stuff in the cup holders. I then recall that the Mrs. ducked outside last night to look for his registration and insurance card and came back with 5 empty bottles. Call me crazy but I never take a car into be serviced dirty because I believe if the mechanic sees a tidy well maintained car they are more likely to treat it with care. Come to think of it I keep my car spotless. I wasn’t always this way but, a clean car like a tidy garage make me happy. I think it may be my profession as a computer programmer if the code isn’t perfect it either wont run or it will spit out bad output. I start her up and notice the seat belt/airbag ‘restraint’ light is on. I take a quick glance at the book and says it could mean there is a problem with my air bags and they may not deploy if needed. My son of course failed to mention this.
The check in service manage starts the car and the light doesn’t come on. The diagnostic for the intermittent restraint light is $122. Of course I’m thinking if I don’t do this and god forbid something happens. The reality in the big picture $122 is not a big deal but yesterday I called to get my 2 Jotul gas stoves serviced and learned it was $225 each. Spending money rarely makes me happy and it seems like this is an outflow week. I remind myself this is why you saved for the last 35 years.. Oh yeah I have to mention when my son came home my wife had to do the final proof reading on his English paper, which still needed a conclusion and was due at midnight. I never, never let anything get to the very last minute. I still have nightmares about missing something and not graduating, 40 years after my first degree. The Mrs said he submitted it 15 minutes early.
The sad thing is when i get out of here- Im sitting in the dealers comfy waiting room, I’ll clean and vacuum his car. I know most would say don’t do it but i can help myself. I figure I have time and I like to stay busy and that mess in the cup holders IS IN MY MIND (I know it is an illness)..
Maybe just maybe one day he will appreciate all that the Mrs and I do for him. Maybe I’m just too optimistic.
This dreary Saturday morning starts poorly, I get in the car and immediately notice just how dirty the interior of this car is. Paper on the floor, dust everywhere and nasty stuff in the cup holders. I then recall that the Mrs. ducked outside last night to look for his registration and insurance card and came back with 5 empty bottles. Call me crazy but I never take a car into be serviced dirty because I believe if the mechanic sees a tidy well maintained car they are more likely to treat it with care. Come to think of it I keep my car spotless. I wasn’t always this way but, a clean car like a tidy garage make me happy. I think it may be my profession as a computer programmer if the code isn’t perfect it either wont run or it will spit out bad output. I start her up and notice the seat belt/airbag ‘restraint’ light is on. I take a quick glance at the book and says it could mean there is a problem with my air bags and they may not deploy if needed. My son of course failed to mention this.
The check in service manage starts the car and the light doesn’t come on. The diagnostic for the intermittent restraint light is $122. Of course I’m thinking if I don’t do this and god forbid something happens. The reality in the big picture $122 is not a big deal but yesterday I called to get my 2 Jotul gas stoves serviced and learned it was $225 each. Spending money rarely makes me happy and it seems like this is an outflow week. I remind myself this is why you saved for the last 35 years.. Oh yeah I have to mention when my son came home my wife had to do the final proof reading on his English paper, which still needed a conclusion and was due at midnight. I never, never let anything get to the very last minute. I still have nightmares about missing something and not graduating, 40 years after my first degree. The Mrs said he submitted it 15 minutes early.
The sad thing is when i get out of here- Im sitting in the dealers comfy waiting room, I’ll clean and vacuum his car. I know most would say don’t do it but i can help myself. I figure I have time and I like to stay busy and that mess in the cup holders IS IN MY MIND (I know it is an illness)..
Maybe just maybe one day he will appreciate all that the Mrs and I do for him. Maybe I’m just too optimistic.
