GOOD-BYE SWEET NADINE

Once upon a time in a place far away, there lived a family with a momma, a daddy, a little boy, and a baby girl. The family lived in a sweet Texas town in an old house with steep gables and a friendly sit-a-spell front porch. The family was very happy, but the daddy decided it would be fun to have an old car to match their old house. The family got in their van and traveled the prairie looking for just the right old car. They went to Kansas, Nebraska, and even as far away as Iowa to find the perfect old car. But it was just not to be. So the family went back to their old house in their sweet Texas town, with fond vacation memories but no car. The next night the daddy checked the "for sale" ads on his laptop and much to his disbelief a new ad appeared for an old car near where he worked. He called the lady selling the old car to make an appointment for the very next day. He went to see the car and fell in love. He called his wife and told her he had found the perfect old car. She was delighted and told him to "buy it!" He did and he brought it home on a big trailer. The car was a 1929 Ford in its original completeness. This was a wonderful thing as it was quite hard to find an old car in such good shape. And magically the old car WAS the perfect car for the old house and even better -- for this family!

The baby girl with her cherub face surrounded by blond ringlets declared the old car's name was "Nadine." And so it was. Nadine lived happily with the family in the sweet Texas town. One day, the daddy went out to the garage to work on Nadine, and when he opened the door a wall of leaves fell out of the car. He asked his children if they knew why there were leaves in Nadine and his little girl said, "Daddy, Nadine needs to eat. She eats leaves, didn't you know that?"

When he saw how her eyes danced and her smile filled her face he couldn't do anything but smile back. Regardless of the leaves in the floorboard, the daddy got Nadine running after her 40 year nap. See, she'd last been used when the lady and her brother drove her while they were in high school in the 1950s. The daddy changed out many of Nadine's parts and polished her as well as he could and the little family went for rides in her in their old neighborhood in the sweet Texas town. At Christmas, the family decorated Nadine with a lighted wreath and took their friends for rides in her.

 As the children began to get older and life began to move faster and faster, the family drove Nadine less and less. The daddy took a new job in a new place way up in Washington and naturally, Nadine got to go too. First class, of course. But when the boy grew up and went to college and the girl began high school Nadine just sat in the garage and waited for her turn to be the center of attention again.

The daddy and momma decided Nadine looked sad just sitting there. The daddy decided it was time for another family to get Nadine so he put her up for sale.

A couple of weeks later, a man contacted the daddy and told him he wanted Nadine so he and his son could work on her. He drove all the way from Texas to Washington to see Nadine. He and his son checked her out, testing her frame and engine. They decided they really liked her and bought her on the spot. They loaded her onto their trailer and took her home with them to live happily ever after in Texas.

Peace, love, and blessed to have had Nadine in our lives for 12 years!