Seizing the Highs and Lows

My Wife Next to her Christmas Present

Yesterday was full of news most of very good variety while another bit decidedly low.  My wife and I had just returned from a very busy day, which I will chronicle below, when I received a call from my sister in Rhode Island.  She informed us of the passing of one of the favorite uncles in her husband’s family.  I didn’t know the man as well as I wished to but the few times I did hang out with him I was always struck by the twinkle in his eye and the almost reverent love he engendered from his family.  He was one of the greatest generation, fought the Nazis in Europe, but was typically low key about that.  I gave him a veteran’s pin a couple of years ago and I could tell it meant a lot to him.  I last saw him a few weeks ago when he joined us for a Red Zone gathering.  I know some people that I love down in Rhode Island are hurting today and my prayers are with them as they go about trying to figure out their lives without this cherished piece of it.

For some of the better news (I think), I had a very busy day at work and my wife had to take her car into the dealer to get the brakes fixed.  She always dreads this because she made the mistake a few months ago of entertaining an offer from one of the salesman trying to get her to trade the car in for a new one.  They must have her on some sort of alert list because she was minding her own business in the lobby yesterday when they descended again.

 When the dust cleared they had convinced her to take a test drive in a new Highlander which had all the bells and whistles of her current car, a Venza.  She was tempted and called me for advice.  The offer was trading in the Venza plus a $1000 down payment and we would continue making the same car payment we were currently making on the Venza.  I told her to turn them down, that $1000 was going to be tough at Christmas time.  I was actually trying to call her back (mis-dialed my sister to her and my confusion) to change my mind when she called me.  The salesman offered the same deal without the down payment.  I told her, Merry Christmas, take the deal.   

I always try to get her a “Wow” gift for Christmas and this would seem to fit the bill.  She liked the Venza but she always complained about how low the car was.  She loved sitting up high in our earlier Explorers and the Highlander will give her that again.  I can also yell “Highlander!” and “There Can Be Only One!” at inappropriate times, so I’ve got that going for me.  On a certain level it also appeals to my life long obsession with my tenuous claim of Scottish heritage.

Since the car was in my name I had to leave work to go fill out the needed paperwork at the dealership.  This is the third car we’ve bought from the same dealer so the paperwork was fairly fast and my wife was soon posing next to her new car.

I had to rush back to work to attend a big event scheduled for the early evening.  My employer had paid a princely sum for me to attend a transportation association’s holiday dinner at Worcester’s Union Station.  I had a lot of fun meeting some of my counterparts from around the northeast and the salesmen from several of the vendors funded an open bar, ably “manned” by a large (actually spectacular) land owner.  The food was awesome and sitting in the main hall of Union Station is always a treat.  I sat next to my boss who let me sneak out before the speeches in order to buy a Christmas tree with my wife.  I missed the speech by the lady from Connecticut who heads the organization and always gets really hammered at these events.  According to my boss, last night was no exception.

My wife and I went to our normal Christmas tree place and had some fun shopping under the lights.  We have a tall ceiling in our family room and put up an 11 to 12 foot tree every year.  We were using her new car so I had to come equipped with a huge tarp to prevent a single drop of pine tar from landing on her Christmas present. The first step in setting the tree up is trimming off a piece on the bottom.  I used a hand saw because it was late and I didn’t want to disturb the neighbor’s kids.  It was harder than I remembered and I woke up this morning with a right elbow that can barely move – God I love getting old.

There was an extremely funny aftermath to my adventures of yesterday.  My boss was telling his wife about all of the above this morning over coffee.  She zinged him with the following: “You mean he got his wife a car and a Christmas tree yesterday and you couldn’t even bring home the electrical cord I asked for!”  I apologized for making him look so bad. 

The Departed Venza

The Dinner Last Night

My Wife with the Wrapped Tree

Buddy and I After Unwrapping Tree