My sister has a remarkable gift for giving us presents.
We look forward with great anticipation to the boxes she sends for birthdays and other important days in our life. Sometimes it is clothes—every shirt Richard wears to church is one she sent him, and likewise, most of the nice clothes I wear to church were gifts from her. Almost always there is something interesting to eat she has bought from Trader Joe’s (the nearest one is 300 miles away in St. Louis) or World Market, which does not have a location in Missouri.
About 3 weeks before Richard’s birthday, which was earlier in the week, I received an e-mail from her wanting to know if there was anything Richard would like for his birthday.
At first he said, “A card would be fine, she doesn’t have to send anything.” He is of an age now where if he needs something he just buys and it is hard trying to think up things that someone else can buy him.
But then he thought about it: “Tell her she could send me a 63 Corvette if she happens to have a spare one lying around.”
Richard has had a love affair with the Corvette Stingray. The first one he owned was a 1963 with a removable hard top. At the time he was a student at Chapman College. The Homecoming Queen rode in it during a parade.
He tells me he took it on the freeway once and got it up to 110 mph, but then realized that if something went wrong, he was going to die.
The car had a special racing carburetor, and he could not find anyone to work on it, so he let it go.
But after we got married, we drove at least two different Corvettes. One of them was a miserable car. It had exhaust pipes running on both sides, which made getting out of the car without getting burned very tricky. The last time I remember riding in that car I was about 8 months pregnant, and Richard had to help me get out.
We replaced that one with a 1978 model that was a lot of fun to drive. By then we had a baby. The car did have a back seat, but trying to get the baby in and out of the car seat was too hard.
That car made way for a regular family-type station wagon, and there have been no more Corvettes.
Until now.
As it happened, my sister did have a 1963 Corvette lying around.
It was hilarious, but I guess you had to be here.
1 comment:
What a neat birthday present. :) Bet it made your husband laugh. I am the world's worst gift giver. Seriously, I shop and shop and can't decide on anything...then wind up picking out something stupid.
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