The Parking Lot

 

It’s an ordinary hotel parking lot with one exception— brightly colored street rods with deep rumbling engines mingle with regular vehicles.

I settle back in my folding chair to enjoy the warm Minneapolis evening after a day at the 2011 Back to the Fifties car show. The hotel patios are filled with people so my husband and I have plopped ourselves in the parking lot, in front of our 1946 Chevy Pick-up.

“That’s a beautiful car,” we comment as the owner opens the door of a shiny black 1963, 770 model Rambler parked next to us. Its original paint shines in the evening light. “Looks like it was driven by a little old lady,” we tell him.

“It pretty much was,” he answers and tells its story.

The gentleman from Biwabik, who originally bought the car, took excellent care of it. Because of the car’s unique aluminum block, frequent servicing was required and he did so, also keeping the exterior and interior in perfect shape.

Unfortunately he had a stroke at much too early an age and was placed in a nursing home, but not before leaving his wife with a long list of instructions on how to care for his beloved Rambler.

Over the years she faithfully followed his directives as a labor of love, keeping the car clean and well taken care of, even bringing it to the nursing home’s parking lot so he could see it from his window.

When he finally died, she continued using and taking care of the car until, at the age of 85, she decided she should stop driving and sold it to the current owner who kept in touch with and frequently visited her with the car until she died at the age of 94.

“So you see,” he says with twinkling eyes, “this turns out to be a love story, not just the history of a car.”

We sip our drinks and continue to enjoy the evening. Soon an unusual threesome approaches. The father, who is not much taller than his 10-year-old-daughter, enthusiastically takes pictures of street rods while his son, a little boy of perhaps 7 darts in and out of the cars. This very active threesome approaches.

“How are you doing tonight?” The father snaps his camera at the car next to us. The little boy, who obviously has a developmental condition, runs in a circle and darts behind the car with hyperactive speed.

The father gently retrieves him, and continues his conversation.

“I love to see these old cars,” he says heartily. The little boy scampers with amazing speed behind another car. The girl gently retrieves him, her eyeglasses knocked askew. She smiles and joins the conversation.

The father and daughter talk with us for some time, while patiently and lovingly keeping the little boy out of trouble. They tell us they live nearby and love seeing the street rods.

Eventually, they stroll away. I watch as the little boy throws himself on the pavement and the father gently picks him up and sets him upright, then stops to photograph another car.

The space they occupied is still filled with their zest for life and loving-kindness.