Breaking up is hard to do.....

First off.... breaking up is VERY hard for me to do. Isn't St. Patrick’s Day a sad enough one already for me?!? (rhetorical question). St. Paddy's day is quite the combo of tears/sadness vs. laughter and good cheer. So... that is why I chose (or the "fates" did) this momentous day to break up with Big Red.

What the hell am I talking about? lol

I always associate the Irish national holiday with mixed emotions. Our favorite Grandpa, Grandpa Clem, died from cancer on this day back in 1977. He was 100% irish. My Mom LOVED March 17th... maybe it was a way to honor her dad... or maybe she just loved honoring her Irish roots.... but most of all I think she loved just rubbing it in my dad's face! He hated that day :) Mom would be all decked out in green from head-to-toe, sometimes with cheesy pins or hats, but ALWAYS in green. Once we were grown, and out of the house, she would make it a point to call and ask if we had our green on. Of course we would! So.... St. Pat's day holds a special happy/sad place in my heart.

As fate should have it, "someone" looking down decided that March 17th would be "the day"!

I drove to Madison, picked up Kate, and we headed over to the DMV to get new plates. I was passing along Big Red to her family. Neither of her kids cars’ are functioning, and they could really use it. They needed it far more than the dealership did, and it IS a great car. The inside looks brand new, and it has taken great care of me for these nine years.

Yesterday was the only day I would be able to pass off Red. After the DMV, we headed over to "visit" Mom. We bought some gorgeous green and white roses. I NEVER knew any such color existed... how perfect huh?!? We both were decked out in green in honor of The Irish, and mostly her :) Kate and I laughed and giggled like little girls as we poorly attempted to do an Irish jig for Mom, and on Mom. I was hilarious, and no... we will most definitely not be winning any dance contests... but it was a blast.

What an awesome time we had driving through our first childhood neighborhood. We attempted to play “name that house”, and sadly we both could only remember a hand full. But boy o boy did we remember the house that used to scare the crap out of us on Halloween. We had NO PROBLEM finding that one! The trap door (milk door) where some witch or scary masked person would jump out of making us all spill our goodies! Yes… we had fun remembering. We also had a blast reminiscing of silly games we would play walking the 2 mile round trip jaunt to the drugstore and ice cream store with our shiny new quarter of weekly allowance. Our favorite game? “The blind man game”. One person would lead the other one whom would have their eyes closed. We made this game up ourselves and would pass away an hour laughing at the other one walking into trees etc. The goal was to see who could walk “blinded” the farthest w/out opening their eyes. Ah yes… childhood games. Then I drove us home and Kate drove Red away. I was sad :(

Big Red was only a few months old when it drove me to work on that fateful day, known as 911. It's in this car that I heard a plane hit the WTC, and it safely delivered me home so that I could focus on finding my husband-to-be in New York that day. That was day was the beginning of our "relationship" -- between Red and I. We bonded that day. Okay... I know it sounds crazy, and it is... but that's just "me".

How the hell would I know that "Red" would be my best friend just about six months later while I would be driving to/from Madison every few days while Mom had her lung cancer surgery and was in the hospital almost a full month? Yup... I'd go stay for 3-4 days, drive home, see Mike and be back on the road in a day or two. A full month, and a few weeks afterwards too. That was nothing.

How would I know that "Red" would be taking me from Fond du lac to Madison every week for the last six months of Mom's life? Red was my "ears" for each ride home after saying goodbye to Mom for the umpteenth time. Red was cried on, spilled on, heard me yell and curse (often!).

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So last weekend I bought her replacement. I upgraded. I just felt that "Red" was getting too old, and needed to go to a good home. A nice home where they would take good care of her and not drive her as hard as I did. That home is Kates! lol

With no further ado.... let me introduce to you to....... Gracie

A 2010 Honda Pilot 4WD Touring. It has a wonderful nav. system that will always lead me home. Although, I am NOT geographically challenged like most in my family... it is still a comforting feeling knowing that I will never get lost.

Why the name Gracie? The color is gray first of all. But most of all, my favorite baseball player is Mark Grace...aka... Gracie. Plus I bought this car in IL and Mark Grace played for the Chicago Cubs. The name came to me driving her back from the dealership in Illinois. The same Honda dealership where I used to get Red fixed. Who knew?!?

Here's the eerie part.... as we were signing the docs, the date hit me over the head like a ton of bricks.... it was "313". 3/13. Those of you who know me from way back when... know that 313 was our address growing up. Hmm.... now I am really wondering "who" is pulling the strings from Heaven. This car and color did not exist according to every Honda dealership in Wisconsin and N. Illinois. But I was able to find it? Hmm.... and then "buy it" on 313? Even that eek’ed ME out :)

It was simply meant to be. And that is EXACTLY why I knew that Mom and/or Grandpa Clem had a hand in all of this. Why else would it be 313, and passing off the car to Kate on St. Paddy’s day?????

I LOVE Gracie! She’s new and shiny, and loves to talk back. Oh wait… sorry… that’s the navigation system talking. Oops… me bad!

So I look forward to my long-awaited much dreamed about relationship with Gracie. I will leave it up to the reader to decide if I’m referring to Gracie the car…. Or Gracie the Cub. Ha ha ha ha ha ha.