Everyday Signs Often Go Unnoticed
Read: Psalm 23 and 121
As most of you know, (and I won’t deny it), I am a car guy. I take a lot of heat for that most of the time. Pretty much everyone dismisses my car “selections” as extreme, or extraordinary – not very realistic. Everyone except my Aunt Martha. I was Martha’s “car guy.” She told me so. I shared special times with her in all her vehicles. Let me tell you the first car I remember her having, a new 1969 Oldsmobile Cutlass – I remember my father going to get it after an accident Martha had with it. No one was hurt but the car was totaled, as I recall. My father had towed it back to our house where it sat in the backyard, next to the garage, I believe waiting for the insurance adjuster to make a final ruling on it. I played in that car as a kid. It was kind-of like the movie “Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang.” Remember from the movie the kids playing in the wrecked car? Maybe, just maybe – this is where my interest in cars took root.
After the Cutlass was a used 1970 blue Mustang not the “sporty Mustang Mach 1” (which would have been my choice), but the Mustang “Ghia” - what I will call the “pampered” edition – with a full vinyl top no less – which to say the least was somewhat unique. As was Martha. Next up was the brand new 1974 Oldsmobile Cutlass coupe. Baby blue with a white landau vinyl top, her Cutlass had white buckets seats with a really neat automatic floor console shift.
There were lots more after that, but here’s where I’m going with all of this. Martha had all of these, what I will call “close hits.” I finally got my chance for full input in 1998. I was now her car guy, officially. I knew what she deserved, but would never have picked out for herself. She was too humble – me, unfortunately, “Not-so-much.”
Martha thought she might like a Buick. “I’ve never had a Buick,” she said to me. Keep in mind Martha was only after transportation at this point in her life. But her “car guy” knew what he wanted for her. What she deserved. She had not seen anything she was interested in. I said to her “Over there, that’s the one you want,” pointing to the Regal GS. She immediately said no – I don’t need anything like that. I was insistent. I said, “Yes – Yes, that’s the one you want.” Now Martha at this point in her life was somewhat unstable with her walking. But, picture this, I made her walk to the other side of the lot, and then climb – yes climb up onto these cement blocks holding this Regal GS. Once we got up there I remember her gasping and saying she can’t believe she climbed up here, but there we were, peering into the side windows like little kids. Gray leather cushy seats, console and bucket seats in the front with the automatic floor shift. All the bells and whistles except for a sunroof – she was adamant it not have a sunroof. So here we are, I said Martha this is your car – it has everything on it and the only thing it’s missing is a sunroof. It’s like it’s meant to be! And I truly believe it was. Martha, not so much . . .
Now here’s what came to me early one Wednesday morning. I knew I had to share with you, so I wrote myself a note. I know Martha secretly loved that car – it took both of us, but we finally hit the mark with the Regal GS. In retrospect, it actually carries a very special message to the rest of us about Martha – A sign, I believe. Who possibly could have known? I certainly never put it together. The “GS” in Regal GS stands for “Gran Sport”
My Aunt Martha was a “Gran Sport.” With everything medical she had to deal with since the age of four, she was a “Gran Sport.” The way Martha approached life – and the special challenges in her life – she truly and indeed was a “Gran Sport.”
Thanks be to God for my Aunt Martha – the comfort I find in her life, and in her Buick. We should all go through life facing all the everyday challenges like Martha did – by being “Gran Sports.”
Bill Kremer
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