Fixing The Ford...

When we acquired my father-in-law's car, the vehicle was in pristine condition. My in-laws pride themselves in taking care of things--their house, their yard, and their vehicles. Because of his declining health, my father-in-law's Ford stayed mostly tucked away in the garage. After we bought it, we let our oldest son use it for work, school, and for going on dates.

It was the dates that put the miles on the car.

That happens when your girlfriend lives two counties over.

But we don't mind. We're glad he had reliable transportation for him to use.

There was one tiny issue with the car and it had to do with the back middle break light. In a word, its condition was: jimmy-rigged. My in-laws had fixed it, but it was a temporary fix at best. Since my son bought a new car, the idea of selling the trusty Ford has crossed our minds. And we don't want to sell a car with an unfixed back middle break light.

It needed to be fixed.

I had an idea on how to fix it--it was more conceptual seeing as how I had never fixed a problem like that before. I thought if I could find the hardware, it should be done quickly. Amazingly, I was able to find everything I needed in our random nuts, bolts, washers, and other odds-and-ends jar. I couldn't believe my luck. After several awkward turns of a screw, everything was in place--we had a complete car once again.

Back in the day, I drove VW beetles. I did a lot of fixing on those cars, much of it definitely not up to VW certified mechanic's standard. Cars have changed so much since my 1965 beetle rolled off some assembly line (most likely in Mexico...). There's a lot I cannot fix, but tonight, I was able to fix the Ford.