Before the good people from Dallas CAN Academy came and picked up mom's car, I needed to clean it out. Have you ever noticed, that no matter how fastidious someone is, there are always personal effects in their car? For most of us, our cars are our little "home away from home." I know I spend a lot of time in my car, especially with Dallas traffic.
Mom spent less time than the average person in her car, and yet there were all kinds of things stowed in the trunk and the various pockets and glove compartment.
I found the whisk broom (remember those?) that she kept to clean off my father's gravestone when she went to the cemetary to put out flowers. There were also an assortment of maps--most years, if not decades, old. I even found a travel guide put out for the Bicentennial (yes, we're talking 1976!). She kept a change of clothes in the trunk too, just in case. It was so like her to think about the "what-ifs."
The object that I found to be most revealing of her personality was the small notebook that she kept all of her "just in case" information. Years ago, I gave her a small binder (like a personal organizer) and she filled it with the information she needed just in case something happened. When she was younger, she carried it around in her purse. As she got older, and she could no longer carry anything more than her billfold and cell phone, the notebook was relegated to her car. She had a separate notebook with similar information in the house. She was "old-school" and didn't have anything stored in a cell phone, like I do. No, paper was good enough for her.
When the nice tow-truck driver from Dallas Can Academy came to pick up her car, all I could do was cry. He probably thought I was some deranged lady, crying over a car, but he was nice enough to ask if I'd taken a picture of it. I said that I had and he reminded me that it was going to a good cause. I cried anyway.
I just received a piece of paper in the mail, saying that it had been sold at auction (that's how they handle all donations, and why they can take cars that are running or not). They received $4300 for it! My cousin's son was only $4000 off the mark! I hope that someone loves the pimp mobile as much as mom did.
