Dear Kid,

On the list of my top 100 Favorite Things in Life, car shopping is negative 4 billion. Maybe not even quite that high.

About a week ago, Dad’s car started smoking. Not the nicotine habit kind of smoking, but the I’m-out-of-radiator-fluid kind of smoking. Since the car is about 6 zillion years old with about that many miles on it, we decided it was time to replace rather than repair.

Dad went car shopping.

Then he wanted me to go with him for a final test drive.

Then we started talking to the car selling people.

I started to document the process, but I bored myself to sleep, so I stopped. You’re welcome.

Last night we drove the fire-breathing red car up to the dealership where we exchanged it for a new red car which does not belch smoke.

Dad has a new car.

You should probably send him a congratulatory text.

Love, Mom

Dear Kid,

Dad is going car shopping. The red car finally gave up the ghost. More accurately, it gave up the radiator and is now a lump of un-drivable red metal sitting pathetically in our garage. There is no question that it has worked very hard over the years, but it is now time to get a car that doesn’t have a crank in the front and an 8 track player inside.

The conversation at dinner last night, predictably focused on the most important part of an vehicle: color.

Pi: Don’t get red. Red is not a cool color for a car.
Me: If we get a red car, you won’t have to drive it
Pi: Silver. I think silver is a very good color for a car. It’s very chic.
Tal: Silver is gray?
Dad: Yes
Pi (uninterrupted): And don’t get green.
Me: Watch it, kid
Pi: Green is only good for small cars
Me: My green car wasn’t small
Pi: It was a compact car
Me: It was a full size car
Pi: It was smaller than your car is now
Me: Not really. It had a bigger trunk. I miss that trunk
Pi: It wasn’t as big as your car is now
Me: It wasn’t as high, but it was as big
Pi: I think green is a good color for small cars, but we shouldn’t get green. And we shouldn’t get blue.
Dad: You mean so when we say “the blue car” you don’t have to ask WHICH blue car?
Pi: Exactly. Black is cool
Dad and Me: No.
Pi: Why not?
Dad: Black will show ever dent and ding and piece of dirt
Me: It will get much too hot in the summer
Tal: No one in Israel is driving black cars because of this
Me: Really? Not even official cars? That’s what they show on NCIS.
Tal: Well, maybe official cars, but not regular people because it is getting too hot
Pi: So silver
Me: We’ll have to wait to see what they have
Dad: Not necessarily. We could order one. We’ve waited this long, another month or two won’t hurt.
Me: WHAT?
Pi: WHAT?WHAT?
Tal: How long it takes to get a car
Me: It varies a great deal
Dad: We can wait a week or so
Me: A week or so and a month or two are not exactly the same thing.
Puppy: I want to ride in the car
Me: Girls, please clear the table

At which point the talk turned to whether Pi would get moving quickly or slowly and the girls going to Orange Leaf (planned for this evening).

The things you miss.

Love, Mom

Dear Kid,

Hope you are enjoying pre-classes starting activities. Sounds like things are going well so far. We are eager to hear more.

Last night was the last pre-season football scrimmage. Sycamore vs Princeton (the high school, not the college) played three quarters with Varsity playing the first two and JV playing the third. The mosquitoes joined in somewhere in the middle of the second quarter.

Pi was Officially Starting Place Kicker for Varsity (do you think she’s excited? Only VERY!).  She was 2 for 2 on PATs. IMHO she should have had a third attempt, but Clarence got horsecollared 5 yards from the endzone. He was out the rest of the game with an injured shin. I believe his injury distracted the boys which led to a silly fumble which led to the wrong team having the ball which led to Not A Scoring Opportunity. I’m pretty sure we “won” 21 – 7 but I have to admit, I wasn’t really paying attention since it’s preseason. She’s off at films to find out how well they actually did.

The Freshman Football Team played before the Varsity/JV team and I spent some time talking to some of the freshplayers during the Important Game. It’s really cool how impressed they are with your sister. “She can really kick.” Yup. One of the boys from Princeton was not as accepting (although he may have been having a bad night–who knows) and didn’t shake her hand in the post-game Slap The Guy On The Other Team In A Show Of Good Sportsmanship Whether You Mean It Or Not line.

In Other News, all kinds of not-terribly-interesting things happening here.

We found the TV remotes, so we can stop wondering if you somehow sneaked them off to college or if Booker put them in his toy bin. Turns out the new couches find TV remotes especially tasty and have a hidden pouch for storing them. Dad performed a couch-ectomy and gave the furniture a Stern Talking To. At least we know the first place to look next time they go missing.

I got the car cleaned yesterday and discovered that it’s color is Green not Dirt. It took several muscular people, a large sandblaster, and an hour and a half to chisel away all the accumulated filth. They are putting up a plaque for the car inside the station because they set a new record for the number of towels needed to restore the car to some semblance of presentability. It’s much easier to see out the windows now without all the Booker nose-marks. On the other hand, every scratch, dent, ding, chip, and dimple stands out in the gleaming clean-ness. I am considering driving through a mud-puddle and going back to camouflage. Today we are going car shopping. Again. My head may explode. If there is no post tomorrow, you can assume it’s because I’ve been locked up for my own good.

Love, Mom