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Thursday Update: 06/11/09

So Matt has had this idea in is mind for a while now…a tiny little glimmer of an idea that he’s been mulling over and thinking about off and on – what if he found an old, cheap Chevette to tinker with and make into a drag car?? He mentioned it to me several times and we’d talk about it in that ‘someday wouldn’t it be fun’ kind of way you do, when you don’t really think it’ll ever happen like win the lottery, or put in a pool, or pay off the mortgage…and I never really took him all that seriously. I thought it was an amusing idea, and I could see how he’d have fun messing around with it with his friends…but life gets busy and his little idea just kind of sat there in the background, gathering dust. Until…the other day I was reading through old blog posts, of all things, and went back to the posts about the Trans Am, and when we sold it…and how hard that was for Matt…and for me. Letting go of that car, we felt we lost a lot of ourselves and our history. It was a sacrifice we both wanted to make, but it was very difficult…and now, a year later, we both miss the car, and what it resembled, a lot. Reading my own words stirred something inside me and made me remember this particular piece of Matt that means so much…he’s a car guy, through and through. And even though he can’t do all the things he previously did with cars, there is much he can still enjoy about them…and even though there was a period he was a little bitter about cars and his inability to mess with them as much, due to his disabilities, he has put that behind him and accepted that while not the same…there is still fun to be had with cars! I realized that if he really wanted to do this, that if he had come to a place of acceptance and peace about things and wanted to have a project car he could mess with along with his buddies and his dad…well then, I wanted to do everything in my power to be sure he had the opportunity.

And so, I helped Matt search high and low for the perfect car, and wouldn’t you know, we found several that looked appealing to him. He’s been e-mailing back and forth with various people this week and is actually in the process of making plans to go up to Minnesota on Saturday to look at, and most likely, buy one!! He’s thrilled about the idea, and I’m just so happy to see that enthusiasm and twinkle in his eye about it. Do you know how big a deal it is that he WANTS to get a car? That he’s willing to do so, knowing full well that he may not be able to drive it? That he’s planning evenings and weekends hanging out in the garage with his buddies, shooting the bull and having a good time bent over the hood? Oh…it’s huge people. I think it speaks volumes about where he’s at in his life…and how far he’s come. Of course I know he longs to get behind the wheel and do a big ‘ol smoky burn out in the street, or tear off down the drag strip himself…the fact that he can still take pleasure in working on it and cheering on his friends from the sidelines…well, that just means so much. And if some day God sees fit to put things in place so that he could get in the car and drive it…that’d just be icing on the cake.

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