thcri
Gone But Not Forgotten
My oldest daughter turned 21 almost a year a go now. But yesterday she purchased her first car. Well we gave her one when she turned 18 to use just like we did for her older brother. The cars were nothing special just something to get around. I am proud of her in the way she dealt with the car dealership and dad stayed in the background. In fact she did all of the dealing without me being there. But I have to take you back to a time that I will never ever forget and that was when she was around 4 years old.
She got a brand new bicycle for her 4th birthday. We had training wheels on it. She rode that bike with the training wheels on it for about a month and she came and asked me to take the training wheels off of it. I reluctantly took them off knowing she was not ready. And maybe I was out to prove her she was not ready. After about three hours I finally put the training wheels on. I could tell she was really hurt as she kept saying she could do it. But I could not see any chance of her making it.
The next day I came home from work and my daughter is riding her bike. One training wheel along with the nut the holds the wheel to the bike was completely gone and the other training wheel was just dangling. She got the nut loose and that was all she could do. Luckily she didn't lose the wheel all together. But she was riding that bike and she had a smile from one ear to the other. I was happy for her but deep down inside I knew I gave up on her way too early. "Can you fix it daddy" is what she said. She never said I told you so. I was able to find the nut she totally had taken off and put the bike back together and off she went. With that I have never underestimated her again.
The car she bought was a 2008 Malibu. She bought is straight out and did not trade in the old one which was worth nothing. The car was listed for 13,900, the dealer had dropped the price to 12,900 and she dealt them down to 11,300. The car is loaded, has the larger engine. I did go down to be with her as she signed the paper work but just seeing her drive that car out of the lot reminded me of her determination back many years ago and now with saving to buy that car. No she did not have all of the cash for it but was able to put down over 40%
She got a brand new bicycle for her 4th birthday. We had training wheels on it. She rode that bike with the training wheels on it for about a month and she came and asked me to take the training wheels off of it. I reluctantly took them off knowing she was not ready. And maybe I was out to prove her she was not ready. After about three hours I finally put the training wheels on. I could tell she was really hurt as she kept saying she could do it. But I could not see any chance of her making it.
The next day I came home from work and my daughter is riding her bike. One training wheel along with the nut the holds the wheel to the bike was completely gone and the other training wheel was just dangling. She got the nut loose and that was all she could do. Luckily she didn't lose the wheel all together. But she was riding that bike and she had a smile from one ear to the other. I was happy for her but deep down inside I knew I gave up on her way too early. "Can you fix it daddy" is what she said. She never said I told you so. I was able to find the nut she totally had taken off and put the bike back together and off she went. With that I have never underestimated her again.
The car she bought was a 2008 Malibu. She bought is straight out and did not trade in the old one which was worth nothing. The car was listed for 13,900, the dealer had dropped the price to 12,900 and she dealt them down to 11,300. The car is loaded, has the larger engine. I did go down to be with her as she signed the paper work but just seeing her drive that car out of the lot reminded me of her determination back many years ago and now with saving to buy that car. No she did not have all of the cash for it but was able to put down over 40%