Rocking On

Dearest Friends,

I am giddy. Yes, giddy. When I first met Rob it was kind of shocking to me that someone in their thirties had never owned a new car. His siblings had. This guy had worked two jobs at times. I knew that somewhere up the road, a new car was in his future. When I got my last job and we had two incomes one day we went shopping to get him a new car. He spotted the car I now have and insisted that I buy that for myself and he would take over my old car. That was six years ago and the old car is a 1999, that means it's 13 years old. While it was a nice car when we bought it back in 2002, it now had over 100k on it and was getting a bit rickety. It has been in good working order but we just had to put a new catalytic converter in it. When my father passed away my Mom split up his insurance money amongst us. It wasn't a lot but combined with what we were given of my grandmother's estate it made a nice downpayment. My younger brother was a Godsend as he just bought a Nissan Rouge for himself and had done all the research and knew what Rob liked. We had previously bought his old truck for Rob. He negotiated a phenomenal deal with the salesman as he set up deals for his mother-in-law, himself, my sister and then us. It was the end of the month too where dealerships have added incentives which buyers can take advantage of. I took Rob in to have him test drive it and he was in love. You know that look when you see it. He also mouthed "I LOVE this car."

Over the summer as I lay in ICU and Rob slept in the recliner next to me I thought of wanting to see Rob have a new car. When I prayed I asked God to let me live to see it. Last night that prayer was answered. They had a banner hanging in the car that had his name on it. It was so sweet that I admit it, I cried. Tears of joy. My joy is greater in giving than in receiving. The past three years have been like a tsunami for us. Our wedding song was "Come Rain or Come Shine". Little did we know what we would face. Throughout it all Rob ha been with me every step of the way. He has given up every vacation day to get me to Philly for doctor visits. He alone has seen me at my worst and shared my deepest fears. I could never repay him, nor would he expect that. What I can do is show him what he means to me. Last night was my chance and I seized it.

It was incredible. #2 on my bucket list is a trip to Ireland. I need a rest first though.

Life is good and sweet and full of moments that make the fight worthwhile.