I don’t burst into tears very often and if I do it’s usually when no one else is around. Today it snuck up on me and I almost cried at the smog check place. But I caught it in time and waited until I was in the car. And conveniently I was right by the cemetery so I went straight there.
I don’t go there often. When I start to feel bad about that, I remind myself that Patrick would flat out tell me not to go there. I go when I feel the need to. I didn’t stay long. Just long enough to let him know that he will have a real headstone soon and then scold him for buying the PT cruiser.
When we met, I drove a light blue Ford Pinto station wagon. It had been a new car once but by the time I could drive it had been driven by several family members. We had even taken it to Oklahoma and Arkansas, in the summer, with no air conditioning! Patrick borrowed whatever communal car he shared with his brothers. When I bought my first new car, a 1988 Mazda 323, I really appreciated it! So, I was determined that my kids would learn to appreciate having a good car too. 😂😂
Some people say they won’t buy cars for their kids because they don’t want to spoil them. We got them cars because it made our lives easier! I mean, have you ever driven by a high school during drop off or pickup time? It’s chaos!
I can’t remember exactly when we got Sierra a car but I think it was at the start of her junior year. We found a 1997 Saturn which I thought was perfect since it was only one year younger than her! She was thrilled and happy to have a vehicle. Patrick made her sign a contract, which I found in the drawer of the China cabinet after he died.
The contract makes me laugh a little because he was trying really hard to be strict but he didn’t really follow through. I think she did end up following most of the rules, but 2, 3, and 4 are doubtful. I know for a fact that there were not monthly training sessions on car maintenance, although I wish there had been. We did like her having a car and it was great having her take over driving Camille to school!
Camille did not start driving until halfway through Sierra’s freshman year of college. So we had to take on the task of driving Camille to school. Camille knew that it was kind of a hassle so she spent her rides home from afternoon practice campaigning for us to buy her a car. Patrick thought this was a perfect opportunity to joke with her. So, if he turned the corner and there was a car in front of our house, ANY car, he would tell her that we got her a car! Then he would open his glove box and hand her the “keys”. The “keys” were a hammer that was inexplicably in his VW bus. 😂😂
One day he texted me a picture of a PT Cruiser convertible. The car looked like it was in very good shape. He told me they were asking $4700 which was way more than I thought we should be spending on a first car. I asked if it was for him and he said, “no, Camille”. He took it for a test drive and the owner kept lowering the price. He seemed to really like Patrick. We finally agreed to get the car and Patrick excitedly told me the story about the “I got you a car game”. I’m pretty sure that Patrick, who rarely if ever made impulse purchases, just wanted the car so the story could have a happy ending!
The next day I picked the car up and took care of the DMV paperwork. Then I parked in front of the house and waited. Patrick could barely contain himself when Camille started her car campaign discussion!when they turned the corner she rolled her eyes when he told her he got her a car. He told her to get the “keys” out and she played along by pulling the hammer out. This time the hammer had a key ring attached. Camille was very confused and cautiously walked up to the car. She unlocked the doors, peered into the windows, then realized I was filming her and nonchalantly walked away. She WAS very excited but she did not want that caught on the video.
The car was Camille’s but we all knew that she shared it with him. We all enjoyed taking it to the beach or just driving around with the top down. I forgot to mention that the car had 183k miles on it!
I’m falling asleep so I am going to do something new and make this part one! Stay tuned for part two!