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WHAT: A 2013 Dodge Challenger
WHY: To help my father avoid losing his house, make use of his talents, and find joy in his life before it's too late.
THE STORY:
As a child, my father told me he had a dream – to buy his father a brand new car. He “never got the chance,” he said.
I’m taking that chance, not waiting for it. No later than June, what I wrote in my grad school application essay will come true: “I dream of buying my father a Challenger, to feel that chill run down my spine as my father’s broken back meets the leather contour of his first new car.” That will happen about a minute after the Challenger swerves into his driveway blasting a song about how “dreams are not enough.”
I have over $24,000 already earned and saved as of 4/20/13.
There are two reasons that this has to happen NOW, not a few years down the road when my student debts are paid off or when the paychecks are big and easy. NOW, because:
#1) My father lost his mother on 4/15/13. He was her primary caretaker for the last six years (at an enormous financial and physical toll to himself) and they lived in a house based on their shared incomes. He now faces losing that home. Having a car with reasonable mileage is important, but more so he needs a car he doesn’t have to pour thousands of dollars and hours laying in the gravel fixing every year. Selling his old vehicles will also float him during this roughest patch as he finishes off medical and funeral bills and old debts.
http://www.mossfuneral.com/obituaries/details/1016/
#2) My father needs to turn his life around. He is a man of tremendous talent and ability and has wasted it for over 30 years grinding away at a manual labor job. I BELIEVE that he still has the talent and determination buried down under the strain of everything he’s been through in my lifetime, that he needs one overwhelmingly powerful message to inspire him to chase down his dreams and find happiness in his life. He will never be a movie star or famous singer (not now) but he CAN set up an office studio for recording commercial demos, he can tutor young talents, he can get involved in local theaters, and a number of other achievable goals that will bring him satisfaction and enough pocket change to hang on to his home.
To do these things, he needs time – time not spent fixing old cars, not caring for his mother, not fighting debt collectors – and inspiration so powerful that it can overcome apathy and physical exhaustion. He needs something to enjoy and to remind him every day what he must do.
He needs one person who understands and believes in him... and a “Challenger” to stand up to him every day when some big job moves me far away.
In sum, the message forged into this Challenger is this. You are not done yet. If your own son had the determination to achieve a dream two generations in the making, you sure as hell can give the rest of your dreams a run for their money.
I am NOT SEEKING MONEY FOR THE CAR ITSELF – I am nearly there already, having set myself on the path to do this a decade ago and having sacrificed everything in the last 18 months to pull it off. Your money is to add all the little bits that will polish it off, and help me seal the deal as soon as possible. (I already missed my goal of having the money in time for my grandmother’s passing.)
The list of extras I’d like to include are:
• The driver’s side door sill engraved with “Dreams are not enough.”
• Another interior engraving with a quote from my book, “Fate is only for those who will not decide their own.”
• A wicked sound system so I can blast the songs that helped me not to give up during the hardest days of scraping and saving.
• Red interior trim he will love. He hates plain black and gray.
• Miscellaneous small touches like engraved license plate frames, a flush spoiler, etc. Little stuff but he will notice and appreciate it.
In sum, THIS IS NOT A CHARITY or a solicitation for a need. Rather, it’s a celebration of a son who believes his father still has what it takes – a celebration of a life that’s about to change for the better. That’s what you’re donating to – a lifetime of bad luck and hard work made worthwhile, talents realized, joy earned, spinning wheels finally catching the pavement and launching.
A dream, two generations in the making, achieved. A life, changed.
http://tinyurl.com/cowwdjb
http://images.cars.com/phototab/DMI/198103/DH524123/01.jpg
Thanks if you read all this – If you choose to contribute, please don't be shy about leaving your name and an encouraging note/quote for my dad.
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