We drove about 800 miles this summer with a kitten in the car. My sister found her abandoned in Florida while we were visiting. My girls had planned on adopting a kitten for their college apartment. It was a match made in heaven. "Isis", of the long tail. pointy ears, and pointy nose, has been walking, running, leaping joy in our house this summer. Joy helps put a little ointment on grief occasionally, so I think it was meant to be. Isis was a tiny baby kitten during this car trip, six weeks old at the most. We all cooed and baby-talked to her. Near the end of the trip, Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" came on the radio. I said "Awwww, it's Isis' first Bohemian Rhapsody.". We laughed - every tiny thing that happened to that new little creature could be a "first".
I, on the other hand, am not young, cute, new, or full of joy. Yet my new situation, I learned this weekend, will hold a lot of 'firsts'. And nobody will say "Awwwww!" These firsts for me are difficult, as they are the first time I will handle a situation without the amazing wisdom and insight of the man I trusted with my life. I am brave, and I like to think that a little of his wisdom and insight rubbed off on me during our years together. I research and calculate and figure and plan. The only problem is......there's no ratings, research, or math that can measure emotional cost.
My first this past weekend was buying a car for my daughter. We need to upgrade all of our older vehicles, as the person that could repair them and keep them running for us is gone. With my girls driving to college five hundred miles away, I need them in dependable cars. We had sacrificed a lot of dependability with no qualms about doing so, as Scott enjoyed keeping the cars running and could perform 95% of all repairs. Since that resource is no longer available, I have to step up and make sure all three of us are in good shape in the automotive department. With four cars to sell to upgrade three people, I saw it as an easy task.
It is easy to find ratings and rankings on vehicle dependability. It is easy to find the "right" price that you should pay. It is easy for my youngest daughter to be very specific about what she does - and doesn't- want in a vehicle. Then, to make it easier, I do have a very dear friend in the car business. They still made a profit on me, but I felt comfortable with the margin. I did have to make a trip to the location where my friend worked, but it was a bonus to spend a weekend with another very dear friend.
I was prepared. Money, insurance, proof of id, extra driver, (lots of dear friends helped with this enterprise!), a pen to sign my name over and over, and my phone fully charged to check Facebook and crush some candies. Dear friends dropped me at the dealership, where I got to work. It should be a breeze, right? I had already done all the research! First things first, I had to inspect it (having chosen it online), and then drive it. The sensibility of doing these things before signing and paying made total sense. I approved the car, gave the green light, and was seated at a desk.
Thank goodness for the phone! It evidently takes a long time to get all the paperwork together. I had to fill out one short form, and then just sit. I did enjoy the family with two little boys at the next desk. They were so young, so cute, and didn't care a hoot about the car Mom and Dad were buying! After so many Facebook checks, and so many tries at a certain level of Candy Crush, I was ushered into a business office. Then, the next question threw me.
Did I want to add a complete warranty? (OF COURSE!! THIS IS FOR MY CHILD!!) It would only cost x amount of dollars to do so, and it's a great idea! Whoa.........that's x more than the number in my well-planned, well-rehearsed script! Oh no! Who can I ask? I sent mind-messages to the person that would have advised me on this, hoping for some kind of vibe, positive feeling, big red stop sign, anything.....all the while, smiling, frowning and tearing up. When will I learn to carry tissues? Thank goodness, dear friend came in (maybe that was the positive sign?) and talked me through the decision, reassured me which choice was best, and I committed. All by myself.
That's it! Write it up! Pay the total! Accept the keys and drive my baby's car back to dear friend's house. That sounds easy. Only I know that I alternately talked to the sky and sobbed all the way back. I did manage to have some fun on the weekend trip, but I also took some naps and nursed a headache. I realized after I performed this great feat that I had done a "first". It was not fun, and none of the firsts that are yet to come will be either. The only way to get them to not be a "first" is to do them once. They may sound the same after that, but at least I will know the huge part of the lesson that I learned this past weekend: In all the research and preparation, don't forget to count the emotional cost, and prepare for it as well. It's a bold print-type cost and you can't hide from it.
Maybe there will be a post on buying the next upgraded vehicle - after I sell a couple to finance that endeavor. I hope that it will sound and feel pretty much the same, and I'll know what to expect. You can ask little Isis the kitten if that's true. You see, on the way home from getting her kitten shots at the vet about a week ago, "Bohemian Rhapsody" came on the radio again. I was just able to turn to that baby kitty and say "'Member this?" There's only one first, after that I should know all the costs involved, literal or emotional.
No comments:
Post a Comment