Stu....to the rescue!

Andrea and I are currently within three weeks from leaving Colombia and arriving to the states. I have been very stressed lately for what has been going on, making sure we have everything ready, making sure Andrea is taken care of, but mostly trying to organize transportation for while we were there. We needed to buy a used car, both to travel north and for Andrea to have while she was living in Tucson. I felt horrible asking my friend Chris in Hermosa Beach to look for a used car for us amidst his busy schedule of fixing cars building cars and traveling and working as a mechanic with different car racing teams. Trying to do all of this long distance had been difficult.

Our original plan was to buy a used car, most likely an older Acura from the early 90s so that Andrea and I have a way to get up the coast to Oregon for Christmas with the Fiallos' and then back to Tucson for New Year's Eve. (This model Acura has a very good reliability record for those interested in a good used car). The car would be Andrea's for the 6 months she is with my parents in Tucson and then ours when I return to the states next July.

Things have changed for the better since this afternoon. I received a call from the family, who are currently at my brother's house for the Thanksgiving weekend in Seattle, and was quickly passed to Stu, who is Randi's (Larry's wife) father. Stu proceeds to tell me that he has a 2000 Ford Focus Station Wagon and would like to know if Andrea and I are interested in it. When I asked him how much he was selling it for, he replied 'for free'. I was shocked. I had never been offered a gift so generous and kind in my life and was at a loss for words. I thanked him and told him that we was very interested in his car and would organize a way to pick it up while Andrea and I were in California. In a daze, I was passed to my brother, my dad, to Randi, then back to my mom thanking all of them.

To make matters even more fortuitous, my good friend Danielle was there for us this evening. I was then intending to rent a car online this evening when I realized that I didn't have all of my current credit card information. My cc is to expire at the end of the month and Danielle was nice enough to email me the new number. However, in her haste, she forgot to give me the new expiration date. While online, reserving a rental car for a ten-day period between December 17th and the 27th, I called her on her cell phone. She was visiting her new boyfriend in Florida at the time and driving to his house. When she answered and I explained my predicament, she interjected with her plans to be in Denver, then in Texas during the time we were renting a car and offered Andrea and I to borrow her car, instead of renting one. She is going to contact her parents to confirm that it is possible and get back to us.