Surprise!!!

Sunday after services, Mr. Fixit’s church held a fund raiser. As he and the rest of the family were leaving, one of their friends offered them 3 large pizzas for $5.00 each. Mr. Fixit said he would buy one, and Ben said he would buy the other two. I guess in the process of leaving, Ben’s wife managed to keep all three pizzas. After Mr. Fixit arrived home, Ben called to tell him that since they were coming our way they would bring his pizza.

I was lying on the couch when the doorbell rang. Jason and his wife came in without the children. The first thing I asked was “Where are my grandchildren?” They said that Noah was visiting a friend and Owen was with Ben and they had come to pick him up. Okay, that sounded reasonable. A couple of minutes later, Ben stuck his head in the door and told his dad to come help bring in the pizzas; he said I should come to. I said, “Do you need help to bring in a pizza?” He said, “Just come on out.” I asked him as we walked out the door if he had bought a new car. He said, “Why did you ask that?” I replied, “I don’t think it takes all these people to bring in a pizza.”

As I rounded the house, I saw Ben’s wife with the video camera. I stopped dead in my tracks and took stock of the situation. There was the Blue Bomb, my car, Jason’s wife’s yellow X-Terra, Ben’s Excursion, and a strange shiny, black pick up in the driveway. I couldn’t locate the kids. I thought Ben had indeed bought a new vehicle. Then I noticed the big red bow on the hood of the truck. I was struck dumb! Mr. Fixit noticed the truck but didn’t say anything. Then the children all jumped up from the bed of the pickup. I think they were supposed to yell "Suprise!", but they forgot.

They bought us a new truck! It’s not actually new, but it’s new to us. Mr. Fixit broke down in tears.

They bought a truck from DIL’s stepfather and had it painted. It looks brand new, but it old enough that the property taxes won’t kill us. It’s perfect! The AC works, the gauges all work, and the headliner isn’t drooping. The windows don’t rattle, and it has an automatic transmission that won’t hurt my knees to drive it. Mr. Fixit particularly likes the power windows so that he doesn't have to listen to my smart remarks about the windows in the Blue Bomb. And it’s BIG!

They got a charge out of my posts of September 2 describing my adventures in the Blue Bomb while Mr. Fixit was away. They had already bought the truck for us.

We transferred the Blue Bomb back to the boys today. We had purchased it from Ben about 120,000 miles ago. Every family needs an old pickup truck to haul mulch, bricks, landscaping stone, lumber, etc. They can share.

Do we have great kids or what?

Thank you so much, family! You can’t know how grateful we are.