Duke

My husband's birthday was May 1.

I was in a quandary. What should I get him for his birthday. Kenny is not the type to request things and if you ask him what he wants he invariably says "Nothing." And he means it. Whereas if my reply to the same question was "Nothing" that would - in reality - mean "I want you to read my mind and come up with the perfect gift that will prove just how much you love me." With some men this might work. Not with my husband. That is why I bought my birthday present, told him what it was and how much it cost and he bought me flowers and a card.

Back to his birthday. Everything this year has been colored by my Dad's illness and subsequent death. It has become a frame of reference for me - good or bad. When I came up with my plan for Kenny's birthday, I was very much feeling aware of mortality and our limited time on this planet.

Do you remember the humorist columnist Erma Bombeck? She wrote a column asking women why they don't use the good china or allow the kids to sit on the living room furniture. She was an advocate (after many years of doing the opposite) of living each day fully. Don't put off until tomorrow...

In that frame of mind, I decided to buy my husband a 1976 Chevy Nova SS. My uncle bought the car five years ago. It is in mint condition. Only 7300 original miles. It is black with gold trim (perfect for the Pittsburgh fan)! It is two-door and even has an eight-track tape player.

Kenny had talked about getting an old muscle car many times, but it was in the context of "some day." May 1, 2010 turned out to be some day.

There was some risk in doing this. Kenny might decide I lost my mind and have me committed. Uncle E gave me a good deal on the car, actually a great deal on the car - but it still was risky to make this kind of decision without consulting my bank partner.

I had Uncle E deliver the car to Central High School on that Saturday. Kenny had gone out to Marty's to work on the farm in the morning, so I had a brief window of opportunity to get the car to the house  before Kenny came home. The only problem was that it took awhile to get the car off the trailer. So I called him and asked if he could meet me at the high school.

"Why?" he asked. "So I can see my new golf cart?"

Now Kenny is one of those people who always guesses his gifts. I try hard to surprise him and he invariably figures it out. I was so excited that he thought that I was getting him a golf cart for running between the fields at the school. (Actually, that would have been a much cheaper present...had I thought of it.)

So when he pulled up at the high school and I was standing beside the car, he was surprised. Really surprised. I asked him what he said when he saw the car and he said "Holy X#@$!"

The Nova definitely made him the envy of many of his friends who probably took the opportunity to mention to their wives what I did. Sorry, girls.

The story - and the spending - did not stop there, however. We only had a carport. Notice I said "had." Kenny decided that we needed to enclose the carport for the Nova. "What about my car?" I asked. My Cadillac CTS may be four years old, but she deserves a garage too. So we now have a two-car garage.

But before the bucks started flying for that, my husband had to improve upon his sweet ride by adding chrome wheels, new tires and Flowmaster headers. Yeah, you can hear him coming from a mile away.

Dad liked the idea that Kenny got his dream muscle car. He thought the world of my husband and Kenny loved him too. Mom and Dad came up Memorial Day weekend and Kenny took Dad for a ride around town and then they blew a little carbon out on I-81. Dad came back with a grin on his face. Then it was Mom's turn. She came back with a grin too, though her hair was a little messed up.

We named the car Duke. Kenny is a graduate of JMU and the car needed a tough, masculine name to match its muscle car ID.

I asked Kenny to pick me up at the office the other night. I was running a little late and I figured he might be ticked off that he had to sit in the parking lot for a half hour. When I got to the door I realized why he hadn't been calling me and fussing about my tardiness. A small group of men were standing around Kenny and Duke.

I smiled to myself as I got into the car. "Thanks, Duke," I whispered. This birthday present may turn out to be my little ace in the hole.