A present from God
I am riding in the passenger seat alongside my almost 16 year old son Daniel. We are in our beat up 2016 sonata, and I am white- knuckling it as he practices
driving while we run our errands.
“This is going to be the worst birthday ever,” he says.
“Pay attention to The road!” I say. Or scream. Depending on your point of view.
“Mom!” He blows his too-long hair out of his eyes.
I grit my teeth. “Turn left up here,” I say. Then I turn to him. “Honey you know we can’t get you a car. I know you want one more than anything. That’s all you’ve talked about for a year. But we aren’t rich people. It’s almost Christmas. We’re in the middle of a recession. Were lucky to be in a better position than a lot of people who are struggling to have enough food.” I say.
I see my son’s face drop. “But You’re still going to have a good birthday. I promise. Just trust me. And trust God. Ok? Pull in here.”
Dan nervously pulls into the spot. He’s not so good at parking yet. Still a little choppy with driving in general. But he’s come a long way.
Later we take the car home. My husband uses this same car for his airport transportation service so we carefully clean it out for him before leaving it in the driveway.
We are a family of entrepreneurs, and my husband’s job is ferrying people to and from the airport.
The next day
I go about my own business which is entertaining people by drawing caricatures at events.
I get a call from my husband while I’m in the middle of drawing a dude and his girlfriend. Annoyed, I let it go to voicemail.
Later I take a quick break and go to the bathroom. There I listen to my frantic husband telling me that the sonata has broken down. AGAIN.
This is probably the fifth time in the last two or three months.
There’s nothing I can do but text him. I’m literally in the middle of a performance. “You ok?” I text.
“Yes. Having it towed. Pick me up at the dealership after work?”
“Ok” I text. I thank the good Lord above that I got this last minute gig. Hopefully it will pay to fix the car.
So After work, I head over to the dealership, which I hate because I’m a woman and all car dealerships I’ve ever been to treat me like I’m an idiot with a checkbook.
I find my husband who is in a cubicle with an oily looking man in an expensive suit. The man is telling him about the sonata.
“It’s like a 90 year old man” Mr. Salad dressing says, “With all those miles on it. Even if you bought a new engine, it would be like putting a new brain in a 90 year olds body. I’m afraid it’s done for,” he says, folding his hands and looking at us sympathetically.
My husband and I both groan.
It’s late November. Christmas is around the corner, Dans birthday is two days away, and now we’re down a car. Worse, it’s my husband’s work car. Without it, he can’t earn any money.
“Can you give us a minute?” My husband Mike asks him. Mr. Suit excuses himself.
Mike is stressed. I can feel it coming off of him like the little visible waves in a cartoon.
I try to reassure him, touching his arm.
“We knew this was coming,” I say.
He puts his head in his hands.
“What are we gonna do? They already declined my loan at the bank.” He is dejected. Defeated.
But I never give up. I am the mom, darn it. It’s my job to keep everyone’s spirits up. And to find a solution.
Honestly I’m more concerned about Dan’s birthday than I am about this car. It’s more immediate of a problem. I have some things for him, but not a big present. He needs a big present.
I take my husband home, leaving the sonata there at the dealership for now. It’s going to need a tow home and that’s the least of our worries at the moment.
On the way home my husband and I formulate a plan.
The next day we go to enterprise. Yea you heard that right. Enterprise, The car rental place.
No we are not there to rent a car. We have already done that 5 times of late while the sonata was in the dealership shop: and every time we are told the same thing - they’ve fixed it. And every time,it’s broken down again. And at this point neither of us trusts the dealership at all. And we’re also down a bunch of money.
So we are here at enterprise rentals to buy a car. We have heard they’re cheaper and have lower mileage. We are here on faith.
We jump through all these hoops. At first we try with my husband’s credit but it has mysteriously dropped 100 points. It’s not enough to buy a car.
Mike is about to give up.
But then they try MY credit which is 708 which is a miracle and a whole other story. (I used an app called self to bring up my credit and I had no idea it was that high)
So the used car dealership pushes the loan through AND Gives us a 9% rate which is way better than the rate they were going to give my husband - which was 22%. Which made my eyeballs pop out of my head.
I put my eyeballs back in my head and We fill out paperwork and wait on phone calls and emails and insurance and do all the buying a car things.
All of this takes all day long.
We homeschool so our kids are stuck in the waiting room doing their homeschool for hours on end. They are actually being pretty good.
Dan’s birthday is tomorrow and he’s all bummed that his goal was to buy a car by his 16th bday and he wasn’t able. I try not to be annoyed at him and reassure him.
I am watching the clock like a cat at a mouse hole. I have not had time to shop for Dans big present, I’m going to need to make dinner soon, and we have wasted my entire day off on car stuff.
Finally they tell us - we got the loan!
WE GOT THE CAR!
It’s a pretty new maroon colored Chrysler voyager. A lot bigger, it will fit my kids better. And more importantly, it will fit my husband’s customers and their luggage better.
“This is the answer to prayer,” my husband says. He’s in tears.I’m glad for him.
But I still have to get Dan a big present. I haven’t had time. We’ve been here all day.
I’m going to have to go out shopping after dinner and see what I can get with the extra money I made at my caricature gig yesterday.
“Let’s go take your picture!” The girl who has been helping us squeals.
The sales girl puts a big green bow on the hood of the car and takes a cheesy picture with us.
My daughter Grace and my son Matthew are all excited to check out the new car.
But Dan excuses himself and heads to the bathroom. His shoulders sag. He is the picture of dejection. I understand. He so badly wanted his first car, and now his dad just got one instead.
The rest of us get into the car and try it out. It is spacious and comfortable. It’s really nice especially compared to what we had before.
WE ARE SITITNG IN the NEW CAR (I kid you not) when Mike gets a call from the dealership.
As is his custom, Mike puts it on speakerphone.
“I have a Christmas present for you” a familiar voice says. Everyone is in the car but Dan at the moment.
“The issue with your car wasn’t so bad after all. The repair guys figured out what’s wrong at last. And for 600$ you can have a fixed car.”
I have literally just worked a gig for $600 and I have the money to fix it.
Mike looks at me. I whisper in his ear. “Take it. Well give it to Dan.” He says “I was thinking the same thing.”
This will be the greatest birthday ever. And he does not have a clue.
We all keep quiet about it on the way home
The next day we open the presents and take My Son to get lunch, which is our custom.
We also tell him that we need to stop by and pick up the old car and bring it home and figure out what to do with it
When we get there, we tell him to get out.
He balks. Gives me the sideways eye.
My husband hands him the keys.
“Happy birthday!”
Dan’s face is worth it all.
Later that day Dan tells me that this was the best birthday ever. That I’m never going to be able to top that present, his first car.
I tell him that wasn’t any of my doing, or his dads either. But that this was his birthday
present from God.
———————————
Comments