My Father the Hero

Okay, first off, I have to say that map is totally cool. It is interesting to see the locations from which people are visiting my blog. Interesting and weird.

Okay, so my dad is the greatest. He has always been a Mr. Fix-it kind of guy. He has always enjoyed building things (he built our wood dining table, a wooden rocking horse for my sister when she was little, and made each of his 4 kids a wood car). He has always liked old cars and fixing them up (he still has a 1960s Willy's Jeep and an old Model-A). And he also likes the Ford Pinto. He has three of them (yes, three) parked in his driveway. One of them was my first car, for which he paid $700. Julie's brother Jason saw the inside of my Pinto once and was really impressed. My dad had replaced the rug, recovered the seats, and the dashboard so that it was new-looking on the inside. Anyway, I digress. The reason my dad likes the Pinto so much is becuase he knows how to work on it. Our family had a 1980 station wagon Pinto that they bought brand new. He still has it. That is the car in which I learned how to drive. My dad's philosophy was that, if you learn how to drive a stick-shift first, then you can drive anything out there. And he was right. (By the way, I have managed to get off topic again).

So, since September, I'd been driving around without any blinkers. On my way to Dothan in September, in the POURING rain (so torrential I could barely see in front of me even at only 10 mph), I noticed that I couldn't tell if my hazards were flashing from inside my car (on the dashboard). Then, lo and behold, I couldn't tell from my dashboard when (or if) my turn signals were flashing. So, when I got up to another car at a stoplight, I played with my lights so I could see in the reflection of the other car if anything was working. Well, nothing was. So, I just was very cautious for the next 3 months and managed to drive all over the place with no working blinkers. People suggested it was the fuse, but I never bothered to check (in all honesty). So, when I got to Dothan this time, I told my dad about it on Monday morning, before I was supposed to meet Kristin for lunch. I figured maybe it was a fuse like everyone had suggested. Well, he looked at the fuse (that was the easy part) and it was fine. So, he was like, "Maybe it's the flasher." Well shoot, I didn't even know there was a part on the car called the flasher (other than the hazard lights, which we, probably incorrectly, sometimes call flashers). Anyway, my dad ended up having to take apart a lot of my car to get to this small piece. I kept telling him not to worry about it; that I would take it in somewhere so he didn't spend his time on it. He said, "Hila, that will cost you a lot of money." And he kept working away. Well, it came time for me to go to meet Kristin for lunch, so in the end, I had to drive my old car (the green Pinto pony). I meant to get a picture of me driving it, but I forgot. Anyway, it was kind of weird to drive my old standard-shift car. But, I warmed up to it quickly. Good memories. And by the time I got home that evening, my car was fixed. And the blinkers worked (and still do). Yay! And the total cost to me: $2.76. For the replacement flasher thing. I love my dad. He will never ever ask me to spend money on something if he thinks he can fix it. And he'll try and try until he either fixes it or until he knows for sure he cannot. I have spent many of my adult years realizing what unconditional love is. And part of it is sacrifice. And I have parents who were willing to sacrifice for their children. Who still are willing. I'm a big girl... I have a job and credit cards. My dad could have totally told me to go take it in to get it fixed. But instead, he took his time and did it for me. To save me money. As I look back on my childhood and even the past 8 or so years of my adulthood, I see how much my parents love me and my siblings. How thankful I am for parents who taught me what unconditional love is. How grateful I am to have parents who taught us how to work, how to act, and how sacrifice. Even if we don't always do it right, they taught us right. And I know there is nothing they won't do for me if they can do it.