Somehow Everything Seems to Work Out
Brad Dixon at Wickstrom
Chevrolet handing over my new car to me
Back in
February of 2015 I was celebrating the 20th anniversary of my Heart Attack.
It’s a miracle that I have survived that long. Most of my success comes from
having Great Doctors, taking care of myself, eating right and going to Cardiac
Rehab 3 times a week to exercise. On May 23rd it was 20 years that I have been
going to Cardiac Rehab.
http://5billdice.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-bunch-of-anniversaries_21.html
On the back
of my Cardiac Rehab T-shirt it reads “You've Got to Move to Improve.” Well it
didn’t seem like that was going to happen anymore. You see my 1998 Chevy Lumina
broke down for good. I had no way to get around like I used too. I always kept
myself busy doing something. I was getting depressed thinking that I’d be
spending the rest of my life without a car to get around, sitting in this one
bedroom apartment. “I just can’t let that happen,” I said to myself.
A couple of
weeks went by. By that time I couldn't take it any longer and I brought my car
over to the repairman. He said, “Your antifreeze is mixing with your oil.” That
was $1,500 and I put it on my credit card. Now I had a car again, "Yea."
The trouble was my car was 17 years old and
more repair bills kept coming in throughout 2015. Then the gas pedal stuck,
+$171, then new brakes +$315.
It’s
December and it was two days before Christmas when I started out on my road
trip to go see my kids for Christmas in Des Moines. I got about as far as Aurora Illinois on RT 88
which is 26 miles from my apartment when my engine blew up on my 1998 Chevy
Lumina. You remember the one that I had to have repaired for +$1500 this past
February. Then the gas pedal stuck, +$171, then new brakes +$315. It was a good
thing that I wasn’t in the middle nowhere on RT 80 in the Iowa cornfields someplace
when it happened.
I sat in my
broken down Lumina not knowing what to do. It was a horrible feeling. I had my
cell phone so I called my daughter in Des Moines to tell her what happened.
“Are you freeking kidding me,” she said. She wasn’t mad, she was just worried.
“I don’t know what to do,” I told her. “Call the police,” she said. So that’s
what I did.
When the
police came I told him my engine blew up. He checked my license and then said,
“I’ll call a tow truck for you.” It didn’t take but about 10 minutes and I was
on my way back to my apartment with car in tow. In the meantime my daughter set
up a rental car for me so when I got back to the apartment, I would have some
way to get to Des Moines for Christmas.
When the
rental guy picked me up and brought me to their office, I saw this silver 2016
Chevrolet Malibu sitting there in the parking lot. I have always wanted to try
one out so I rented it for my trip to Des Moines Iowa. The car was awesome
except for the hard leather seats. My ass hurt so bad sitting on those for 5
hours. Cloth seats would have been better.
Christmas at
my daughter’s house was great. I got to see her and my son. I haven’t seen them
since last Christmas because of all the problems with my old car. That night we
went and saw the new Star Wars movie. This theater served dinner and drinks
while you watched the movie. I had never heard of that before. I loved it but
after eating my pizza I got tried and found myself nodding off a couple of
times. I think the best Christmas present I got was seeing my daughter and son
together smiling. That night when I got in bed I said my prayers like I always
do and asked my Mom and Dad to help me with my car problem. “I don’t know what
to do,” I told them.
The trip
home in this rented Malibu was great except for it raining the whole 5 hour
trip and sitting on those hard leather seats.
I had a lot
of time to think about what I was going to do for a car when I got back home.
All I have is Social Security and a Veteran’s disability. I decided that the
first thing I would do was to have my mechanic who I trust looked at it. I had
it towed over to him and the next day he called and said, “The engine is gone.
It’s a piece of junk.” I had a feeling he was going to tell me that. So I had
him call the junk man and they are going to take it away. I hated to see my
1998 Chevrolet Lumina go because my son had bought it for me back in 2004. My
son has the heart of Gold but times are tough now so he wasn’t able to help me
this time.
My son and me in 2004
Now I don’t
have a car. I have to have one in order to get to my Cardiac Rehab Class 3x’s a
week and all the doctor appointments plus get to the store to buy food. I
didn’t know what to do.
I left the mechanic and walked back home. I looked on the internet and found Dick Wickstrom Chevrolet a dealer in Roselle Illinois that is close to my apartment. I have always been a Chevy guy. My Dad even sold Chevrolets at a place called Nicky Chevrolet in Chicago when I was a teenager. I explained to the salesman what had happened. I told him that I had to have a car to get to my cardiac rehab class at the hospital. I just can’t stop my rehab or I’ll get another heart attack. He said, “Do you want to come in and look around?” “I don’t have any way to get there,” I told him. “I’ll pick you up.” That was great so I said, “OK.” I didn’t know if I could qualify for anything but I had to try.
When he pulled up in
front of my apartment building he was driving a Chevy Cruze. It’s a nice little
compact car. He introduced himself as Brad
Dixon. He was a young guy. As we drove to the dealership we talked
about what I was looking for. Right off the bat I felt very comfortable with
Brad and we hit it off on the right foot. Brad and I went over the usual income
stuff and what price range I could afford.
I’m 70 years old, retired and live on a fixed income so my
monthly payment was the most important consideration. So after talking with
Brad I decided that Leasing would be the best way to go for me. Then we took a
look at 2 cars. I told him about the Chevy Malibu that I had rented over Christmas
but I didn’t know if I could afford it. He showed me this white Malibu and I wished
I could get this one. Then he took me inside to look at the smaller Chevy Cruz.
We sat down and I told him that I liked the white Malibu the best but I wasn’t
sure I could get it. So he went to talk with his finance manager and came back
with the figures. I was happy when I saw the monthly payments on the two cars.
They were both the same which I could afford. The only difference was that the
down payment on the Malibu was $500 more. “So which one do you want?” Brad said
with a smile. He knew I liked the white Chevy Malibu. “OK, I’ll take the white
one." We had come to an agreement on the price and I was thrilled. I had the car
I wanted. Brad was the best and I am so glad he helped me get a car and it was
brand new. I never thought I would ever have another one in my life. Brad was
the best and that’s the truth.
Somehow everything
seems to work out somehow. Even though it doesn’t seem like it at the time.
You know the universe
began 15 Billion years ago according to the scientist when we had the big bang.
And I thought about this; Everything had to go absolutely perfect for me to be
on this earth. Any little thing that deviated or went wrong from the beginning
of time until I appeared on this earth, what if a speck of cosmic dust went
flying off in another direction or what if one of my relatives way back 100,000
years ago had a headache that night and didn't feel like having sex? "I
Wouldn't Be Here!" It boggles my mind just thinking about that. It took me
15 Billion years to get here so I'm very thankful to be alive. There must be an
awful good reason I'm here. So I want to stay here as long as possible whether
my life is going great or whether everything seems to be falling down around
me. I can't even imagine not ever having been born. I love Life .
