Give Thanks...For Our Van And The Friend Who Made It Happen

Last week I blogged about having to give up on a trusted car, something that's been in our family for more than a decade. At the same time, we decided to let go of another vehicle. This one on which we relied for not only transportation of people, but of furniture, groceries, top soil, and numerous yard and garage sale bargains.

And now, it belongs to another.

We did, however, keep it in the family.

Years ago, around 2009 another trusted van we owned started to fall apart. Almost as a joke, I posted on Facebook that it would cost more to fix than it was worth. A good friend called me after seeing my post. "Hey, you looking for a van?" he asked. "Yeah, I guess we are."

I should say that these words are most likely not the exact conversation we had. It's been more than a decade, after all...

"We just got a new van and we were wondering if you'd like to buy ours." He told me the make and model and I think I laughed. I told him there was no way we could afford it. "How much do can you spend?" I told him we had some savings.

"Okay--we'll take that for it."

Shock. He was cutting the value of the van by 2/3. I wanted to make sure he was okay letting it go for that price. He said he was. We drove over and picked it up. It served our family so well. We'd by another Toyota Sienna in a heartbeat, but we no longer have need to take six-eight people on family vacations to California and Washington State. We no longer need--at the time--the mind-blowing technology of a DVD player and screen installed for the kids to watch movies. We no longer need three rows of seating or enough room to haul a full-size upright freezer from Brigham City to our house. 

Even though we no longer need these things, we miss them. We got a new car, newer, fewer miles, more mind-blowing technology. But we'll always be thankful for the van and my friend who let it go for a loss.

We passed it down to our son. They have a toddler and need something they can count on. We were happy to do it and we took a loss on it as well, not as big as my friend, but we tried to help them out. If you need to move several people, I recommend the Sienna. It drives wonderfully, hauls like a truck, and it's just a wonderful van. I'm thankful it served us so well for all those years. 

This Halloween Season...I'm Sad To See It Go

 The candles are out, the jack-o-lanterns are off the porch, the candy bowl empty.

The Halloween season comes to an end.

I'm sad to see it go.

On Sunday we closed my autumn gig, our sixth year...the best show we've ever done. We said our good-byes, took some selfies, cleared out our stuff, and drove away. It'll seem weird not putting on the three-piece suit and introducing everyone to Professor Clarence Black. They'll just have to wait ten months for the good professor to hold court again.

This year, we didn't decorate the house, didn't have our traditional day of Halloween party with homemade doughnuts and family gathering. The party was Saturday. Tonight, we set up the Candy Cannon (for some, a neighborhood favorite...) and blasted the kids with candy. The waining moon rose in the east and the temperature dropped, we cleaned up the cannon, put everything away, and turned off the porch lights.

Another Halloween over.

Some traditions were missed, others observed, like carving a pumpkin to honor my mom on her birthday. Thankfully, because of my autumn gig, I didn't have to make a special trip to deliver the pumpkin or to pick it up. Same town.

Tomorrow November arrives--actually, for us it's only a few hours away. I love November, but it's no October. Even though I finally get to slow down in November, there's something about October and Halloween that is special. It's like no other time of the year.

I'll miss this Halloween season, for some of the best reasons.