Cypress to Tango

Quincy got to do something he has never done before yesterday and it is something I really do not like doing at all. We spent the better part of the afternoon at a car dealership . Since 1996, we’ve owned Honda vehicles. We bought our first one on our 1st anniversary and named her Cypress after the color of the car: Cypress Green Pearl. We added the Accord in 2002 and since it seemed bland, silver and without nuance, it has remained nameless and of neuter gender. Go figure – just one of those things.

Well, Cypress failed the Maine state inspection last Friday due to rusted brake lines. After some deliberating and weighing the pros and cons, we decided to have the brake lines fixed. Besides rust and normal wear and tear, the car has been great. I got the call yesterday morning that in the process of getting to the brake lines, they discovered more problems. The total for the repair bill kept climbing upwards. We decided it was time to pull the spark plug and let her go.

So, ever been car browsing/shopping/buying with a toddler? Oh, it could have been very, very ugly. The first hurdle for Quincy was lunch. I drove to pick up Dara around 11:30 and then we went straight to the Honda dealership. The good news was that we had already wargamed out this scenario – about what car we’d get next. The sales guy was a very nice older guy who has many grandchildren – so he understood our situation. Fortunately for all involved, Quincy was in rare form. He’s usually shy and reserved around people he doesn’t know, but he kicked it up a few notches at the Honda dealership.

We took a nice test drive, Quincy included, and decided upon a purchase. We did not remember so much freakin’ paperwork, however. I think we signed more papers for the car than we did for our house. So, while we were waiting for various things to go through, naptime had come and gone with us two anxiously wondering how all this was going to play out.

The showroom had a lot of red, white & blue balloons up on the ceiling because they were having an unofficial sale that carried over the President’s Day holiday. Quincy loved the balloons. He did, however, keep referring to the large, white one as an egg. I tell ya, the chicken that laid that egg must’ve been gigantic. The lady who was manning (womanning) the reception desk saw how much Quincy liked the balloons and told us that she’d arrange to get Quincy a balloon.

I was thinking they were going to give him just a regular balloon. Oh no. It turns out that one of the guys that works in the service department as a door opener, greeter kind of person is also a shriner clowen and he keeps balloons on his person at all times – not normal balloons – the kind to make things. Quincy was fascinated as this man blew up these really long balloons and then proceeded to twist them and wind them over one another. Quincy ended up with a very odd looking balloon gun that slid up over his arm. He acted like it was the best thing he’d ever had. He got quite a bit of mileage out of those balloons – so much so that they were both popped even before we left the dealership.

So, the deal was finished, but we had to take Quincy home for his nap before our car was ready for us to take home. I drove a dealer vehicle home and then returned later in the day for the car – it was getting an interior/exterior treatment.

The hard part now for Quincy is getting it straight as to who drives what car. He always called the Civic “mama’s car” and the Accord “daddy’s car” – that is all changed. Dara now drives the Accord and Quincy and I will be using the new car. It will take him some time to get that straightened out in his toddler head I’m sure, but he’ll get there.

So while Dara and I dislike the car buying experience, Quincy did great. He took a later nap than usual, but went to bed fine. He even got up earlier than normal this morning, but he still took a good nap. He seems to have come thru this better than us – he’s too young to understand how stressful the situation actually was for us.

Now to Tango. The color of the new car is Tango Red Pearl – so we decided that Tango sounded fine. It fits with one of Quincy’s other names too. I sometimes will refer to Quincy as Alpha-Bravo. For example, if we’re driving in the car and I’m curious what his status is, I will asked Dara, “What’s going on with Alpha-Bravo?” I don’t know where it came from, but I use it from time to time.

Tango is a 2008 Honda CR-V. I think she’ll fit into our family just fine. She’s a bit shy, but I found a picture on the internet of her. The only difference I can find in the picture and our Tango is that we don’t have tinted windows – we like the UV radiation. That’s what we did yesterday. What did you do?