...summer lovin'

so i could...or should be folding laundry, or putting my kitchen back together (it looks like a bomb went off after the plumber was here to fix a pipe and replace the garbage disposal)... but Reagan assured him that i would want to put things back like i had them...really?  but the sun is out and so instead i'm sitting on my deck blogging :)  this post will be a little more like a journal entry, outlining the events of this past weekend.


my birthday was a few weeks ago, and now that we are thirty somethings we don't typically have parties or even do gifts.  we travel a lot and we buy things that we need here and there so much that we truly feel like we live as if every day were a special occasion...which it is, right? none of us are guaranteed another day.  so i'm not sure if it was the impulse of a man with a serious gift giving love language (if you haven't read the book The 5 Love Languages...it's great), the warm spring weather, or my poetic descriptions of scooting around town...our hair blowing in the wind with the top down...nonetheless my husband decided that this birthday he would surprise me with an Audi TT convertible. the most impressive part was the surprise...because i'm never surprised, not because it hasn't been attempted, but my curious or discerning intuition just tends to get in the way and have this uncanny ability to just "figure out" these types of things.  reagan knows this as well as anyone.  the first surprise he got involved with was my 16th birthday party...a surprise that i tried to go along with but had some strong inklings about, or our proposal which i was kind of surprised about but knew of the leather jacket he bought to store the ring in because i had accidentally found the receipt for it. but this time he did it...he 100% surprised me.


yes, we had talked about convertibles and how much fun one would be in the summertime, but i really didn't think one would find it's home in our garage anytime soon because what we had talked about more was trading in my Lexus 330 for a Lexus SUV in preparation for the Bender Family expansion project (this is not an announcement...believe me you'll know as soon as i do :)  i didn't suspect a thing because an impractical, seasonal, 2 seater convertible just didn't seem likely...and i was convinced that my birthday present was some patio furniture that i had wanted...all just waiting until my dad could come help set it up.  i pleaded and begged for him to tell me where he got it, what it looked like (truth be told i was kind of concerned it might not match the stuff i already had) so why so secretive?  i even tried to convince him of my handiness, offering to put the blasted patio furniture together myself.  he typically caved so easily...but not this time, because there never was patio furniture...but there was an Audi TT convertible being looked for all over the east coast!


as most of you know we own a business and work with a business team here locally.  his plan was to "unveil" the gift at the team meeting that we had saturday night and so after much scurrying around his plans were coming together.  the meeting went longer than expected, but reagan was the wrap up speaker and of course was amazing as usual...casting vision for our team, lifting people up, and than began to take a significant amount of time to edify me (which i appreciated, and sat there thinking about how i needed to go live up to those expectations:) and all of a sudden he was ordering people to go down to the lobby because he had a birthday present that he wanted to give to me.  people bolted out of the room and i just sat there dumbfounded...like in a dream where everything is a little fuzzy because you're not exactly sure what's happening.  my mind started running a trillion times a minute (it usually paces at about a million miles a minute) trying to conjure up what this surprise gift might be. a patio set was great and everything but i was pretty sure that he wouldn't go so hokie as to bring it to a 4 star hotel on the back of a pick up.  and then all of a sudden i thought...what if it's an animal? crap.  as some of you know i'm not a huge animal lover and our lovely little Tag is enough cat in the house for me.  plus he had to remember the "bad experience" we had the last time he gave me an animal...a rodent is more like it...a gerbil on my 15th birthday that he could tell i was less than excited about but tried to graciously accept only to have it drown in the sub pump weeks later and be found looking 3 times it's normal length.yuck. so a car did cross my mind, because i figured it had to be something rather significant if he was willing to make this big of a deal about it...but NAH...he wouldn't really get a car.


so with my eyes closed and a friend guiding me out to the front lobby doors i gingerly walked towards my gift. i could sense the anticipation in the crowd without even seeing their faces.  1,2 3...surprise...i opened my eyes to discover a silver Audi TT convertible. What?! This was Barbie's car and now it was mine!  I stood there saying nothing...in shock, but then let out a little yelp and turned to reagan in disbelief.  I couldn't believe it...there sat the little TT convertible in all it's glory, silver paint glistening in the flash of the cameras just waiting for me to hop in.  but that's when the gift became bittersweet.  reagan proudly announced that this summer i would be learning how to drive a manual transmission on none other than a convertible sports car.  what?  i had been quite content with park, reverse and drive and really did not think i had any desire to learn how to drive a stick shift.  now i knew why he had given me the topic of a positive mental attitude at our meeting.  i had just passionately shared with people the importace of being grateful, positive and expecting the best...there was no way now i could go rogue, flip out and stress out in front of this same crowd about my  apprehensions on becoming a stick shift driver.  so instead i asked for a ride and in seconds we were wiping around the block...reagan describing all the tense moments of making this surprise a reality. 




LOL!!

 we drove it sunday to the phillies game and already created quite the memory (that will be another post on another day) but now i have a week off.  a week off? yes, a week to mentally prepare for the adventure of learning to drive a stick shift. the car had to return to the shop to get a few last touch ups...just enough time for me to "gear" myself up for the thrill of a 6 speed, time to recite my postive confessions of being an incredibly quick learner, time to pray for perpetual green lights, and to scope out every flat route to all my most visited locations. but learning new things is what life's all about i suppose and so for my 33rd birthday i was given the gift of not just a car, but the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and learning something new :)


wow...i was truly surprised.  i am the receiver of a truly generous gift.  we have a sign up in our home that says, " the most important things in life are not things"...which is truly a way we believe. this car is not the end all be all...it's by far not the most important thing, it is just a token of love...a way to say "i love you" and a by product of consistent effort that has afforded us these choices. 


 so if you see a silver TT stalled at a light...be gracious and refrain from honking. if you catch a glimpse of blonde hair whizzing by...please wave...and also consider getting on the rental schedule for your next date...the entreprenuer in me is considering starting a rental service ;)

...cheers to some summer lovin'.



i'm taking plate suggestions...so leave your comments below :)