A Family of Gearheads

I am really loving our weather lately: cool mornings, mild days, lovely evenings where just walking to the mail box or going for a drive is a pleasure. Las Vegas doesn’t get nearly enough of the “transitional” seasons of spring and fall – seems like it’s either blazing hot or cold. (Alright, I can hear snickers from you guys who live in those states where the snow piles up high - so we’ll concede the point that “cold” is a relative term, okay?) Anyway, when newcomers to Vegas make a remark like “Man, I really miss the change of seasons.” or “How can you stand it with no spring or fall?”, my response is usually something like “Vegas does have spring, you just have to pay attention – remember those 5 or 6 days two weeks ago?”

Yesterday I took my grandkids to a car show – what a blast! It’s all done to raise money for Parkinsons disease, and there’s always a great turnout. There were muscle cars, roadsters, classics, we were in motor heaven! I got a call Friday night from my ex-husband, letting me know the show was this weekend, and hoping that the grandkids and I would want to come as he’d be helping out there all day. Some people think it’s very strange that my ex and I are friends and still see each other; well, let me tell you, it hasn’t always been that way, but I’m glad we made it to this place. From the time we decided to divorce, we made up our mind that our daughter wasn’t going to pay for our screwups, so we were going to do our best to make sure she didn’t get caught in the middle (sometimes more successfully than others, I'm sure). We’ve always been able to deal well regarding her, and while there were years we weren’t close, at least we weren’t hateful to each other.

Now, a ways down the road, we’re friends again. We meet for a soda once in a while, take the grandkids somewhere, chat on the phone now and then, etc., with his wife’s knowledge, of course. It’s nice, you know, to be able to still be close to someone with whom you share so much history. We can reminisce, poke fun about old situations, etc. Our daughter’s coworkers are amazed when she casually mentions that we’re taking the grandkids to a movie, or the drags, or going to dinner, even though we’ve been divorced for about 26 years. One of her coworker made a comment something like “Good Lord, if my parents did that, they’d probably have to call SWAT!!!”

While we were at the car show, a friend asked if the grandkids had enjoyed themselves, or if they were bored. I said "No, they are as nuts about cars as I am!" The friend said, "Well, I guess they come by it naturally." So, yes, I am proud to say that we are a family of gearheads!!