A Dream Come True

BOX SCORE
Element	Current	Std. Range	Trend
Hemoglobin	11	13-17	^
Platelets	89	140-375	v
ANC	2810	1800-8300	^

When I was a youngster, probably about 10 years old, my dad introduced me to model making. Mainly we built models from kits, but Dad also taught me how to make a stick and paper airplane from scratch. It actually flew, with the help of a rubber band motor. But one of my favorite plastic model kits was an MG-TD sports car. You may remember this car from your youth (if you are old, like me) or from old movies, or maybe from a car show. It was a little, English two-seater with long sweeping front fenders and a vertical grille. The windshield (well, windscreen, if you are British) was flat and folded down for a full-blown (you should pardon the pun) wind-in-the-face experience. I treasured that little plastic car, and vowed one day to own a real one. 

This is an MG-TD. Mine was originally this color, but never during the 15 years that I owned it.

When I was in college, that dream came true...sorta. During the summer between my Junior and Senior years, I took a 15 credit hour physics class at Portland State University, and I worked full time at Bob Smith Shell Service, pumping gas, mounting tires, lubing cars and whatever else the station owner asked. One day, I found an ad in the paper for a 1953 MG-TD for sale for $500. I called the number and spoke to the owner, who was a local chiropractor. I asked him what kind of condition the car was in, and he told me, "I think it's in terrible shape for a car." Well, at least I knew he wasn't going to try to sell me a pig with lipstick on it. Nope, this was a genuine pig...no makeup at all!

The doc had had a young man who helped around his office "paint" the car. Everything was painted flat black, including the parts that were supposed to be chrome. The seats were torn up. There was no convertible top, no hubcaps, no spare tire rack. It was pretty bleak. But when I got in it and pulled on the starter cable, it started right up, and the engine sounded smooth. I laid down 5 $100 dollar bills and drove it home. I was a little disappointed when I stopped at a traffic light, and the VW  next to me left me in the dust, when the light turned green. 

I spent my spare time (please see paragraph 2, sentence 2 above) that summer fixing up my pride and joy, including reupholstering the seats, sewing a convertible top, having it painted at Earl Scheib's ("I'll paint any car, any color for $29.95"), and helping my dad repair all of the broken and disconnected wires that prevented things like lights and horn from working. Apparently, the kid who painted the car flat black did some dismantling of the fenders. Rather than disconnecting wires, he just cut them. 

By the time Fall semester at the University of Oregon rolled around, I was ready to drive her off to college. The longer I had that car, the more I thought of my friend Jan who had toured Europe with his sister in a Citroën 2CV. He said it wasn't much of a car, but he liked it, because it was never very far from running...or not running.

  

Here's a Citroën 2CV. Pretty sure Jan's was not in this condition!

Well, Tom, that is all fascinating, and we're all very happy that you once owned a junk car, but what's your point? 

This morning, when I got up, I was having a fair amount of pain in my right shoulder. It took a while for me to get the kinks out, but eventually I did. Since the weather forecast is for 106ºF today, Jill and I planned to walk early. When we got home, it was getting pretty warm already, and we were glad we had made the choice we did. Next it was time to get ready for a trip to the clinic for my weekly blood draw. Just when I thought I was ready to go, I noticed some blood oozing out from under the bandage on my right big toe. Off I went to the bathroom to get a new bandage and my bottle of Betadine to scrub the toe. (This is the toe that had surgery a month ago for an ingrown toenail. It is not healing properly, and I will need to go back to the podiatrist in a couple of weeks.) When I came back to the living room, I told Jill it sometimes feels like I spend every minute of every day trying to hold my body together...kinda like driving an old beater of a car. 

Just like that old car, I am grateful for the body the Lord has given me, and I am able to keep it together, in spite of the challenges. I just happen to be in the stage of redoing the seats and making a new convertible top and trying to figure out the wiring...without the help of dear, old Dad. Changing the analogy, "It [my body] takes a licking and keeps on ticking." (Apologies to Timex and John Cameron Swayze, the commentator who made that line part of Americana, back in the days of my youth.)

I just have to quote Psalm 139:14 again:

"I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well." 

Thank you, Lord, for your gifts. And by the way, I will never forget my old broken down sports car...a dream come true.