Personal holidays and the confluence of events....

It's interesting for me how events, whether at a personal level or history level, seem to be channeled towards certain dates.

For me, it's March 16, more so once tomorrow arrives and adds to the synchronicity.

Eighteen years ago on March 16, my grandfather died, sitting at home, he collapsed and was never resuscitated.  I remember being told--Erick was two and Julie was only a couple weeks from giving birth to Brigitte.  He was 77, I believe, when that happened.  I think that was the first funeral where I served as a pall bearer.

Four years ago, on March 16, my mom died.  She'd actually collapsed on the 13th, too little oxygen in her lungs from years of smoking, slipping away into sleep and then death.  They kept her on life support though until I was able to get to Oklahoma.  That was the 15th.  It was my idea, and Debbie and both Pete agreed, that they wouldn't pronounce her dead until the 16th, so that she would die on the same day as her dad.  --Sometimes symmetry is intentional, not coincidental.

Tomorrow is the 16th and it comes following several days of warm weather (at last!), the snow here all melting.  That's important, because the car I purchased and restored, a promise I made to Mom--that I wouldn't just invest or save my portion of her estate--is done and can be driven now.   Yup--the best day for it to go out on its maiden voyage--March 16.  That was coincidence, not intent.  But I suppose it's a good thing, as the paint used on the car was mixed with ashes from Mom and Pete, so that in a sense, maybe it's a spiritual rebirth for her...she loved Mustangs...

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In the big picture--the series of days from March 12-16 have a ton of crappy goings-on in my life, whether it is the death of family members or being rejected for a job because I don't have the preferred set of genitals...it's a long list, but then we come back to balance and symmetry.  If you have so much to list on the bad side of things--don't you have to balance that with the good?

Ultimately, there's only been one good thing to come in those days--but it more than balances the bad and the sad.  Twenty-five years ago, I had my first date with the future Mrs. Dietz.  March 14, 1990.  Nothing out of the ordinary--simply a movie, dinner, and talking and TV afterwards, and yet, as I walked back to my room in Sherman Hall (graduate student housing), I was on Cloud Nine.  I had not expected to be starstruck that night, that out of nowhere, I would find someone who would start me towards being a decent human being and stick with me through all of those bad things--and over the course of decades, give me too many good memories to count.

Funny how things balance out, huh?

Spring is here and the time is right for amazing things...(Yes, the Mustang again)

Okay, so it isn't spring and there's supposed to be snow on Sunday, and today it is dark enough I need a light inside to work, but you know what--I don't care.  Life's going pretty good--the novel that was supposed to be out in December got delayed, but it's on the way, Jolly Roger is doing fine, and then...the Mustang.

I meant to write a blog on coaching today (procrastinating from working on a different writing project...), but into my mailbox comes an email from Chris at Heartland Classics with an update on the Mustang.  Truthfully, I've appreciated them keeping me up to date with the car--and I was surprised to get the email because they sent a text on Monday talking about the sound system and getting that installed, so I didn't expect to get another update so soon.  (Yeah, hear the disappointment in my tone....)

Turns out today they are working on installing the windows. Of course, Chris left something out--shame on him.  When he sent me the paint job pictures, they had not yet put on the chrome and other 'fixings'.  You can see those on here now, too.

 

It's ba-ack!  Here's the iconic Mustang logo on the front of the grill.  After driving 'modern' cars for so long, one of the most shocking things driving the Mustang was how big the front section is.  I'm tempted to say you could put my wife's Prius on the hood without a problem.

 

This view made me think of a different classic vehicle--Stephen King's "Christine".  This view just looks intimidating.



 

They've got the rear lights in again and the Mustang gas cap, too.  Ahhh, much better, right?
Of course, if you look REALLY closely at the last picture, you'll see they've got the sound system in already--no surprise since that's hard to install if you have the windows in!  One of my debates has been, "Which song gets played first on the iPod?"  I've had some good suggestions:

*Born to be Wild
*Mustang Sally
*Bad Boys Running Wild
*Rock You Like a Hurricane
*nothing...because the engine is music enough

The one thing I'm hoping to find out in the next week or so as they finish up--whether they will be able to find original hubcaps OR high-quality replicas.  The 'hubcaps on the car currently, I believe, are from a 1968 Mustang--they look classic, but they're actually pretty bland.  The original Mustang featured spinners, though they got banned by the government as being dangerous (never mind that the interior of any 1960s car is a deathtrap compared to a 2014 vehicle).

The hope is still to make it to Florida soon.  If that fails for this year, it'll happen in 2016, and then I'll have to find an alternative for a shakedown cruise--go to Cubs Spring Training? Drive to California?