Gina and I spotted Gus the van last week. Most of you know, Gina drove a 12 passenger Ford Club Wagon for many years. We bought the van the Spring of 1997 and sold it Winter 2012. A family just a few blocks away bought the van but we haven't seen it driving around much and wondered if it broke down or had some problem. Well, we were at Hanni's basketball game and the van was in the parking lot. When I entered the gym I spotted the couple that purchased the van and it turned out their daughter was on the team we were playing against. So Gus lives on.
Here is a picture of Gus. He was also called Megacooper - but only after I hand painted the roof white to cover up some rust spots.
Here is a blurry picture of Gus.
Seeing the van got me to reminiscing about driving the entire family around town. That led to me thinking about another quirky thing our family did. Gina would say the same thing to everyone each time we embarked on a trip to visit friends or really anyone. She would turn to the back and say ----
WHAT IS YOUR JOB WHEN WE GET THERE????
Everybody responded enthusiastically (we had to work at that sometimes) ----
MAKE SURE EVERYONE ELSE HAS A GOOD TIME!
We all benefited from this encouragement. It is a good thing to be reminded the world doesn't revolve around us and that one way to love our neighbor is to make sure they have a good time.
The big surprise is discovering that when we stop focusing on ourselves and think of others first we end up having a better time too!
That is great insight, Sniders. Thanks for sharing that habit with us. I just might try it on my own clan.
ReplyDeleteWe learned many lessons the hard way. One lesson I learned is - listen to Gina, she knows what she is doing!
DeleteWhen we were talking with our kids about memorable rules this came up as #2 on the all time favorite rule list.