Subtitle: Lambasting Gaiety
Kelly is yet again trying to put the rest of us to shame with this talk of her and Rob's lovey dovey crap. How DARE she make Reader's Digest romantic? Ours (a subscription that my parents insist on renewing for Christmas each year) stay in the hall bathroom, where they are only read by me -- well, Bug pretends to read them while she pretends to use her potty -- when Trudy (yes, I've named the protruding bitch) is making an appearance. But while mister mrtl and I rarely cook together, and never dance, and certainly don't sit around reading Reader's Digest jokes to each other, we've got something special, too, damnit! My man will forsake his convictions out of his love for me.
This is about so much more than his rise to the status of "My Sugar Daddy."
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."
~ Lewis Carroll
Actually, we'll just skip down to the pigs. The answer is a resounding YES. Pigs have wings. They're flying as we speak! For two reasons, the first of which being my finally writing my Good Deed entry for Motif Monday. The second is the story itself. In a nutshell:
Merry Christmas to Me!
Yes, this is what I've refused to talk about, afraid of jinxes. Afraid that it wouldn't happen. But it will. So I will. And, as it would turn out, it's totally not my good deed, but my husband's.
::tangent::
The Good Deed motif was initially inspired by Danielle, who has been especially kind to the homeless this winter (and who was recently rewarded BIG time by Karma for her sweetness -- you go, girl!). There have been other bloggers who have spoken of such acts of good will; I didn't write them down, so of course I don't remember who they are, so I apologize for not acknowledging them.
My plan was to set this motif in order to encourage myself (and anyone participating) to get out and do something, but I got severely sidetracked. "Sidetracked" isn't quite the word for it. "Sidelined" may be a better choice. And "shocked." It was around the same time that I got The Email from mister mrtl. Apparently a conversation that we had recently had resonated in him. As inconsequential as I believed it to be, it caused him to reevaluate his long-held beliefs, for me.
::end tangent::
And now, in my typical fashion, I will overanalyze the entire process that brought us here. Feel free to skip along to your next RSS. I spent too many hours trying to trim this down to no avail. Sorry!
The subject of The Email was "Truck vs. Minivan."
Let's back up a bit. We bought the truck last February to replace Otto. Otto was my truck; he was paid off, completely by me. His value, unfortunately, wasn't much more than a piece of panda poop -- a bronzed one at that -- and since I was sure I didn't want to have another used car, but we really needed something bigger, there was no way I was going to be buying the replacement on my own. For the first time ever, mister mrtl and I were going to make a mutual vehicle purchase, but he was going to be paying a lot more than I.
In February, when mister mrtl was doing the research on what we'd get next, he asked what I wanted. I told him that I'd like to be able to get in the back with the Bug and close the door, to be able to get her settled and get myself into the front seat without having to get back out of the car. This was for me a matter of personal safety (being the kind who, when alone, quickly gets in and locks the doors). We had some friends with an SUV that had this capability (i.e., no installed console between the front seats). Turns out theirs was one of the few, yet one of the most expensive, with this option. Mister mrtl made a comment at the time that what I was describing was either well out of our price range or a minivan.
"Minivan." ::Recoil in horror!:: We both had been violently opposed to becoming those people: minivan owners. It was a matter on which we agreed since early on. The matter was promptly dropped.
The real question here is WHY was it dropped? Because I honestly detest minivans and all the selling out of one's youth and identity that they represent? Because I held mister mrtl's detestation of the same with more weight because of the financial circumstances? Should I have been more adamant about what I wanted, despite my maybe not-so-accurate belief that this would be more of his truck since he would be paying most of the loan? More importantly, and what I can't recall now, is did I have the requisite foresight necessary at the time to force the minivan option? I know for sure that I didn't feel so strongly then that I would buy a van if I could afford it (while now I would). Did I consider the weather in Alaska (a possibility at the time, but not a definite)? Did I consider the ease (or lack thereof) of getting a second Bug into the back seat? I still don't have these answers. Part of me thinks I let it drop too easily because -- bottom line -- it wasn't going to be "my" car.
::tangent::
I've talked about the money situation between us, about my consternation with being dependent on someone else. Well, here's where I shot myself in the foot. I should have been more vocal about it, insisting that we at least look at a van.
::end tangent::
Either way, I let the matter drop. We got the 4Runner, and after getting to Alaska and trying to be patient with Bug, who insists on getting herself into her car seat in her own sweet time, no matter how cold and/or wet it is outside, I am kicking myself. With the shot foot. Ouch. So it came up again not too long ago how I was seeing some challenges in getting Bug and Frida into the truck, as well as trying to nurse in there. I never expected, nor was I looking for mister mrtl to actually consider getting a new vehicle. Just talking. We do that. An "I see some issues, but I'll deal" kind of talking. Some time later, could have been a week or longer, or not, I got The Email.
Since he first brought it up, I tried to distance myself from believing it would actually happen. I didn't want to jinx it. I didn't want to pressure him, to make him feel obligated to follow through if he changed his mind, if the dealership wouldn't take his offer. I expected it to fall through, and was prepared for that.
Well, today the dealership called, accepting his offer. Mister mrtl is buying me the van. It is to be mine (I doubt he'll ever want to drive it) and should be here in the next week or two. I did a very good job at suspending my belief. I'm still in shock.
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Who participated?
Hänni
