New Car

I want to share what was one of the most rewarding and special days of my life to date. 45 years ago, this old man (otherwise known as my dad) picked up this pretty mama on their first date in his shiny red new 1973 Ford Mustang. He was so excited and had been trying to get her to go on a date with him for a while, and polished up his new “Pony”, had the a/c running for her, and her door opened….

Over the years, my dad and I have talked about cars a lot, and I’ve learned his dream would be to rent one of the new Mustang GTs for a weekend and drive to the beach with my mom. The beach is their happy place and they drive down there several times a year. I’ve told myself for years that one day I would logistically set that up for them, or maybe when I’m “older” I could buy my dad his dream car.

A few months ago, after talking with a dear friend about this goal of mine, she said, “what are you waiting for, you’ve been talking about this for years, life is short, do things NOW, we are never guaranteed tomorrow.” Those words really affected me, and the next day, literally, one of my dear clients and friends who lost his wife not too long ago, came to our office for a meeting. He had bought himself nearly the exact same car I’ve been dreaming about getting for my parents. It was a sign, and after sitting in it and driving it around the parking lot, I made the decision- the time was now.

So here’s the picture a few minutes after I picked up the car from CarMax, yellow bow and all, and surprised them by pulling in front of their home in Memphis. Their reaction I will never forget. They didn’t believe I had bought it for them, they thought maybe I borrowed or rented it for the day and was just being my (normal) goofy self. A few minutes later my father went inside to “go to the bathroom”, but my sister found him in tears in his room, overwhelmed with emotions.

I share this not to brag about some gift I gave to my parents, but instead to remind all of us how every day is precious, and sometimes even when the timing may be a little uncomfortable, we have to just act on our intentions and listen to our hearts. I’ll never forget how much joy this day brought to all of us, and not one minute have I felt an ounce of regret (I just refuse to look at the bank account balance for a while!). So cool to see mom and dad riding around like when they were dating in college!