#7daypositivitychallenge
I was nominated by @mariannewest to join in the seven-day positivity challenge. The challenge is to post for seven days about something positive in your life. I have been following along with her challenge and I told her that I remind myself to be grateful when I am complaining.
I am a person who picks out flaws. This may be the editor in me, it may be the perfectionist, or I may just be a bitch. When I start to complain I have to remind myself that things won’t always be the way I want them to be, but I always have something to be grateful for every day.
When I give myself this reminder I list off the things in my life I am grateful for. I call it counting my blessings and it helps to turn my negative attitude into a more positive attitude of gratitude. There are many things for me to be grateful for in my life including my health, family, friends and a wonderful place to live.
Today though I am particularly grateful that we got to hear our truck run again.
Let me tell you about this truck.
So, we go to Florida for a vacation around Christmas to visit our friends. While we are there we see a truck for sale in their neighbor’s yard. Before I tell you about the truck I should explain that my husband has the frugal trait. He doesn’t trust banks or computers and refuses to buy a truck that has a computer. Because of this we have been driving an old beat up 1986 Toyota pick-up.
My husband also will only buy Toyota trucks. We have bought other types of trucks in the past, but Toyotas are the trucks he likes to drive, he can fix them himself, and they will last forever if they are maintained properly. Trying to find a Toyota truck, without a computer, and in our price-range is almost impossible.
Especially where we live in the south of the USA. We come from the north where it snows six months of the year and four-wheel drive is mandatory just to get to the store. This means we could buy a beat up old Toyota 4x4 for a few grand. But here four-wheel drive is not mandatory and is more of a play toy. People like to add a lift kit to the Toyotas, which are expensive, and they will not sell the trucks for cheap.
After years of looking for an acceptable Toyota pick-up in our price range in the south, I gave up the thought that we’d ever find one. When we saw the Toyota Tacoma two wheel drive sitting there with a for sale sign we both were surprised to say the least. When the guy said he’d sell it cheap, we were even more surprised. When my husband said he’d buy this truck even though it has a computer, is fuel injected and an automatic, I about passed out from the shock.
The truck drove home from Florida like a dream. I drove it the entire way and I didn’t hear any strange noises, and no shimmy in the front end. In fact, this truck was too good to be true! When we got back to South Carolina the weather turned cold and our little truck wouldn’t start. We decided that since the Tacoma made it home we would put it on the road now and fix it as we went.
The truck ran fine for about five weeks. The entire truck needed to be fixed. My husband replaced every part on the front end. It was obvious that the previous owner only drove the truck and never had it repaired. Before long though the Tacoma overheated, and we had to have it towed back to the house.
Long story short, the Tacoma needed a new head. Since we had already spent most of our savings on this truck and we still had to pay bills, my husband put aside as much money as he could to order a new head for the truck and all the gaskets and sensors to go with it. Then he named the truck Jerry McGuire because he said it was out there in the driveway screaming, “Show me the money!”
After five months of saving money we were able to get the parts needed and my husband put the engine back together. This too was fun because he had to work extra on the weekends to make more money which meant less time to work on the truck. He’d go out for an hour or two every night to put it together.
Today he was able to start the truck and take it for a test ride. The truck will still need a few more parts before it is road worthy, but we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. And it is a good thing because now our little truck he is driving needs a new master cylinder. We both can’t wait to put Jerry McGuire back on the road.
I am grateful that we have such awesome friends who let us visit them in Florida. I am grateful that their neighbor was able to sell us the truck for such a cheap price. I am grateful that we had the money saved up to buy it. I am sincerely grateful that the truck made it home to South Carolina and allowed us to drive it for a while, so we could fix the other truck.
I am grateful that my husband has such an awesome boss and a great job to help pay for the new head and all the many repairs needed to make the truck safe. I am grateful that my husband knows how to rebuild an engine and that he has friends he can call when he needs help, advice, tools, extra work or a discount on parts.
And I am over the moon grateful that now we have a truck with all brand-new parts that hopefully will last a few years without any major surgeries!!!
Now for the hard part… I must nominate three people to continue this chain letter. I mean challenge.
Today I will nominate three friends from the freewrite contest.
@honeydue
@improv
@freedomtowrite
If you have already been nominated- no need to do it twice. If you would like to nominate yourself, follow the rules below and continue passing on the positive messages in your future Steemit posts.
The rules:
• Write a post about something you have to be positive about today - this could be anything from being thankful for your current situation, someone being nice to you, being thankful for your friends and family, or even being thankful for the opportunity you have been given here on Steemit - just keep it positive :)
• Do this for 7 days in a row if you get nominated
• Mention three people who should do this on each day.
• Tag it with #7daypositivitychallenge and include these rules at the bottom of your post.
• Include a picture of something positive (related to your story if possible.
Thanks for Reading!
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Thanks to @snook for this super cool gif!