Father’s Day Memory

I woke up this morning from a really vivid dream involving Linsey Lohan and her mom . I'll let you fill in the details but it was enough to wake me up with this first memory of my Dad (I know, totally a non-sequitor).

Back in the day, I was 15 years old and eager to put my driving skills to the test at any given moment. My Dad was cool enough to let me take the car out all the time and run errands on his behalf. So, I would of course take my best friends with me wherever we went. One day, my Dad asked me to take the car out and get it waxed. I didn't know how to wax the car then and I still don't really know today, so, of course, I asked dear old Dad how to do it. He proceeds to tell me to apply the wax and leave it on to build a film on the car. Once it dries, apply another coat. At that instant I had an immediate audio flashback in my head to The Karate Kid with "wax on, wax off", thus, I asked him, "Are you sure? You just want me to put on wax and leave it there?" He then told me he was talking to a guy at the barbershop and he said that the way he does it. I shrugged my shoulders and went back to my room wher emy best friend was and told him we were going to wax the car. Even he questioned my Dad's logic. I told him we'll do it anyway and see what happens.

Outside it was at least 95° F. We went to AutoZone, bought some wax, and read the instructions. The instructions say to put the wax in a shady area and take it off almost immediately. We followed all of the instructions to the letter except the wax removal part of it. So, we drive the car around the neighborhood with a bunch of little white circles all over it. We pulled into an adjacent apartment complex and pull up to a corner and stop. This little kid on a bike looks at the car and yells, "Oooooohhhh! That's an UGLY car!" My friend and I bust out laughing and I reply, "Fawk you kid! Go play in traffic!" We start driving back to the house weaving back on forth on the sides of the street due to laughing so hard at the ridiculousness of the situation and me not being able to see due to the tears in my eyes.

We got home and the whole time I kept thinking, "This is wrong. This is so wrong." I then jump up 30 minutes later and go, "Dude, let's take the stuff off!" So, we run downstairs and get to the car and try in vain to get it off. No luck. I start thinking of how my Dad is going to blow up when he finds out this paint job is ruined. So, I drudge back up the stairs and break the news to him. He's surprisingly calm ad says, "Oh well, don't worry about it. I'll get someone to take care of it. I know a guy with an electric buffer." So, at this point, the car is all messed up with a paint job on it.

The car stayed in that state for almost two weeks. My Mom's car broke down and she had to take me to school in that thing. I don't get embarrassed easily, but damn was I wishing that no one at school saw me get out of that P.O.S. in the morning. Eventually, the car was livable with a nice redish primer color coating it. Eventually it got repainted.

So, thanks Dad for teaching me the valuable lesson of confessing when you really don't know something about cars. Much love!

Currently listening : Round & Round By Tevin Campbell Release date: 1990-10-03

Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments at:
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