(Chapter 14: Married life)
Things were good, I had a good job, a wife and a child on the way, what could possibly go wrong? For awhile, nothing. I was ready to settle into the good life, work each day, come home to a clean apartment and nice meal and spend some quality time with my pretty woman. But as they say, life happens and there is not much you can do about it.
At first, Debbie was the model housewife, not the best cook, but she was new at it and I tried to be patent. Of course I tended to overlook certain things as I had never been married before and didn’t know if things were as they should be or not. I was happy for the most part, so if this is the case you can forgive a lot of faults, at least for awhile.
I guess if this had been our only problems we could have done a better job of dealing with them, but as couples often do, words turn into arguments and then into fights and before you know it you say things you regret. You learn to deal with anger and forgive and forget, but the words you say can never really be taken back. Each new argument is pretty much a recap of the last argument and so the story goes.
Then when you think you have it all worked out, something else happens and bam, you are right back into it. We were dealing with a lot of new stuff, feelings we never knew about, hormones that I didn’t have a clue about, etc. So when the Chevy got rear-ended while turning into a convenient store, we thought the whole world was out to get us!
Of course it wasn’t, and while it didn’t look as pretty, the car still drove fine and our troubles didn’t seem quite so bad after all. That is until the Chevy started acting funny. It didn’t happen all at once, but over time the car didn’t shift right and then sometimes it wouldn’t move at all.
The cost of a transmission was not out of reach, but then appears a way out which doesn’t require any hard labor. Just what the doctor ordered. I found another car which would get us by until such time as I could have the Chevy fixed. While not the perfect solution, it would do for now.
Vehicle #11
My parents always had good luck with the vehicles they bought and most of them had
been Buick’s, so I decided that was the way to proceed. I was married now and about to have my own family, so it just seemed right to follow in their footsteps. On a car lot, I believe on Reading road, I found an affordable Buick, a green and white 1963 LeSabre, 4 door. While not the best looking car, the paint was faded and the interior was kind of ratty, it did run good and that seemed important at the time.
So we parked the Chevy and drove the Buick for awhile. In the meantime, I looked for a transmission so the Chevy could be fixed. Even with it’s dented rear quarter panel and broken taillight, it was still my favorite car. Soon there appeared a solution, and nearby also!
Vehicle #12
I spotted it at a car lot just a few blocks from where we lived, a brown and white 1963 Chevy Impala SS. Not much of a runner, the tired ol’ 283 V8 needed a ring job pretty bad, but it shifted just fine and that was what I was looking for. The body on the old car wasn’t too bad, but all I was interested in was the transmission. I bought the car and brought it to the apartment where it sat out back until I could find some time to switch the transmission.
Not too long after that, the Buick decided it was time to go on the fritz! When it rains it pours. Now I had 3 disabled cars out back and the apartment owner was getting a bit upset with me. I had to do something, so I called my father and asked if he could help. He agreed to take the Chevy’s and have the transmission switched and I could have the car back when I paid him for it.
That was great, I solved the problem of too many disabled cars, but now I had to find a fix for the Buick. To tell you the truth, I don’t even remember exactly what the problem was. For some reason I can see the motor and transmission out of the Buick, but I don’t remember why it had to be done. In any case, the result of this action was another vehicle.
But I’m getting ahead of the story again, we had better save that one for the next time. Something was about to happen in my life which changed it forever. One of the proudest moments in my life, the birth of my son. Stay tuned for that story next time!
For those who would like to follow the count, I will keep a running tally of my vehicle list here.
The personal blog of mosslack 