My shiny red moment

There are times when life imitates the movies... when one of those cheesy cinematic moments that make you go 'awwwwwww' actually happens to you! Usually those feel-good movie moments make me think 'Please, does that ever happen to normal people?' But when it does happen, I think it's the Universe's way of conking me on the head and reminding me to quit being so god-damn negative.

Well, I got one such conk recently. I arrived in Omaha, Nebraska two days ago to visit my dad. It was a typically cold Omaha evening and so I was ready to run inside the house the moment my dad parked the car. But, instead of taking me inside, my dad took me to a nearby parking spot and handed me a set of keys. And there in the parking spot sat... a shiny red Honda Civic! MY shiny red Honda Civic -my very first car! It was beautiful and I, well lets just say I had to stop myself from hissing 'My Precioussssss'! You should have seen my face at that moment- I had a smile wide enough to make any Colgate representative proud. My hands were jittery- though that could have been because of the cold. I found a large orange ribbon tied around the car and I cut it open, feeling like a total celebrity. The inside of the car was decorated with several bows (again shiny red) and I found attached to the steering wheel a card. It read

'Congratulations on all that you've achieved. We are so proud of you' and it was signed by my mom, dad and sis.

It gave me goosebumps to read the card. By now, the smile was a little less prominent on my face- I turned away from my dad just in case a few tears suddenly appeared as they so often do with me, revealing the total softie that I am. Now, for those who are wondering 'why the heck are they congratulating her now?', I suppose some background information would help. The congratulations were for me having completed my Masters and having found a job.

Though my dad had told me that he was looking for a car for me, it was just an awesome feeling to be told by my family that they were proud of me...and in this way. After 2 years of living by myself and struggling with the pressures of a masters degree, I felt aptly rewarded.

This incident reminded me of that full house episode where DJ gets a red car with bow and all for her 16th birthday...and of course the studio audience cheers and claps, oohs and aaahs, all in chorus. Well, I imagine that if there had been a studio audience present that cold evening when I got my car, they would've definitely let out at least a tiny 'awwww' for me...and my shiny red moment! :)