Let’s talk about cars
As a Speech Pathologist, facing patients made noncommunicative, I used the wail of The Lion Sleeps Tonight to encourage effort to make sound. The familiar lyrics were a favorite amongst people my age. Families were ecstatic that their loved one, muted by stroke, could produce any noise resembling speech.
A friend and colleague prompted a patient by asking about his first car, opening the floodgates. (Interestingly, I frequently caught her in grad school leading accent reduction groups in discussions about sex and drugs.)
Americans and their cars. I have friends who belong to clubs devoted to one brand of car. Who knew? Obviously many people, but not I.
Round round get me around
A car to me has always meant transportation and independence. While my demands for quality have heightened over the years, but number one requisite has always been and continues to be reliability.
The car chain
When our car numbers exceeded one, Mike placed himself voluntarily at the bottom of the car chain. His mechanic skills allowed him to cope with the inconvenience of an uncooperative motor.
Whenever an additional family vehicle was needed, I got my pick, the kids were second in line, and Mike ended up with the reject.
Blue Boy declined the offer of Mike’s car, opting for a new vehicle provided by his mother, disrupting the car chain.
I would say that he is spoiled. But ED’s status as a single mom, with little time to contend with complex transportation issues, tempers any judgment. The car will take Blue Boy through college at which time he will have to deal with those issues himself.
Someday his car will come
The pandemic has decreased our need for more than one vehicle for Mike and me. His red can gets him easily to Home Depot relieving the need to think of replacing it in the immediate future.
As the garage and driveway fills with shiny automobiles, he patiently waits his turn. What a great guy!