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Here is the challenge as it was written:
Ladies, WITHOUT prompting, ask your husband or boyfriend these questions and write EXACTLY what they say. The outcome can be hilarious.
These were Enz's answers for me:
1) What is something I always say? When will you put that away?
2) What makes me happy? Cars.
3) What makes me sad? Not having the right year El Camino.
4) How tall am I? 5' 10"
5) What's my favourite thing to do? Drive your El Camino.
6) What do I do when you're not here? Work on blogs.
7) If I become famous, what will it be for? Writing books.
8) What makes you proud of me ? Everything.
9) What is my favourite food? Pasta.
10) What is my favourite restaurant? Montana's.
11) Where is my favourite place to visit? Montana's.
12) If I could go anywhere, where would it be? Scotland, England... castles.
13) How do I annoy you? By asking for more El Caminos.
14) What is my favourite movie? Finding Nemo.
15) Who is my celebrity crush? Barry Windham.
16) You get a phone call that I am in trouble, who am I with? It was your sister the last time.
And these were my answers for Enz:
1) What is something I always say? OH, for crying out looouuuuud... GILLIAN!!!
2) What makes me happy? Working. (wrong)
3) What makes me sad? Being Alone. (wrong)
4) How tall am I? 5' 9" (wrong)
5) What's my favourite thing to do? Watch building shows.
6) What do I do when you're not here? Watch building shows.
7) If I become famous, what will it be for? Building furniture. (Wrong)
8) What makes you proud of me ? Your building knowledge.
9) What is my favourite food? Italian wedding soup. (wrong)
10) What is my favourite restaurant? The Keg. (wrong)
11) Where is my favourite place to visit? Home. (wrong)
12) If I could go anywhere, where would it be? Back to Italy. (wrong)
13) How do I annoy you? Leaving a mess on the kitchen counter... constantly.
14) What is my favourite movie? Sports movies... all of them.
15) Who is my celebrity crush? Chyna.
16) You get a phone call that I am in trouble, who am I with? Vince.
So, after going through how well he knows me and how NOT-well-at-all I know him, the thing that really got me... was..... he gets it! He really gets just how much my El Camino means to me!!
Now, I know what you're thinking... and you're absolutely right..... I am a horrible person and I should care more about getting to know the person I've been married to for over twenty-two years so far, however, so far our system seems to be working just fine, so all is good!
I'm actually not a materialistic type of person, my faith, my family, my friends, feelings and sharing are just more important to me than having lots of 'stuff' but I do have a major love for cars and nothing brings me more joy than car shopping. My absolute weakness is muscle cars of the 70's and my ultimate dream is to find myself my perfect 72 El Camino, but they are not easy to come by these days. Now, Enz will try and tell you that my obsession with cars is out of hand but his is, too, he just doesn't admit to it like I happily do. We each have the same amount of cars but we just have totally different tastes, he loves sports cars and I love muscle cars... it all evens out.
Enz wasn't exaggerating when he answered that I annoy him by asking for more El Caminos. My ultimate dream is to have one of every body-style that was produced. I do keep searching and asking for El Caminos and I really don't see me ever changing that. As it stands now, I only have one, and it's my least favourite body-style and my least favourite colour but she rumbles like a beast and I love and respect her because she's an El Camino and she's beautiful to me no matter what!
Because poor Enz had subtly rolled his eyes every time his answer involed 'El Camino' for an above question, I couldn't help but to think back to the day my beloved El Camino came to actually be mine.
I was lucky enough to find her for sale on a day I totally DID NOT deserve to to get her... We were selling our house in Kakabeka Falls. I was sick, SOOOOO sick with bronchitis that I hadn't been able to get out of bed for a week because every time I moved or tried to stand the coughing took over and lasted until I puked followed by passing out. So on the Friday after I had finally crawled my way out of the bedroom to the living room couch, in hopes that a new view would finally help me feel better, I thought things were looking up. Then Enz called late in the afternoon and things took a very baaaaaaad turn. The Realtor had called him and wanted to show the house the following morning at ten o'clock. When he told me, I started to cry. I hadn't cleaned the house because I still could only stand for a couple of minutes without coughing and feeling woozy. Really, the house was clean because I had been stuck in bed the whole week and Enz worked eighteen-hour days but you know how it is when trying to sell a house... the over-cleaning craziness sets in! I cried, I cursed, I cried some more and Enz promised he would come home early to help me clean (and he did) but I crawled around crying while doing my best to clean and hold back the coughing pukes until he got home to help. So, the following morning, the house was completely ready by the time we got our girls (we had two Lab/Whippet cross pups then) into the car and started in to visit my mom while the house showing happened. But I was still sick and I was still MAD!!!
The entire forty minute trip into town was spent with me being absolutely horrible! I had first demanded that we take the back highway instead of Enz'z preferred main highway route into town because... "If I have to go out sick and feeling crappy and holding a puke bag and being so, sooooo sick because I'm really sick, you know! I'm really, really sick! And it's ALL YOUR FAULT that you made me come out sick like this! You should have TOLD her that we can't show the house today because I'm just so sick but you didn't because you don't even care. And you're the worst! And you're just so mean to me! And I hate that you're so mean to me! And I can't even stand you for making me come out today when I'm just SO SICK!!! And the ONLY THING that's going to make me feel ANY better about your meanness is that I'll get to see the El Camino on the way in! I'll still be really, really mad at you for doing this to me but it'll un-hurt my heart a little, at least..." ...and this was all said through whiney and hysterical tears mixed with gross coughing-up even grosserness.
Needless to say, it was not a trip into town that either of us enjoyed but Enz just sat quietly and uttered not a word as I complained and accused the whole way. Silence finally came as we approached the familiar driveway and Enz slowed the car to a snails pace so I could get a good long look at the '78 El Camino I had kept my eye on and drooled over since happening by it three years earlier. He slowed, we both looked and the El Camino... wasn't there. My heart dropped and I instantly broke and dissolved into uncontrollable, ugly cry sobbing.
Enz didn't know what to do...
Until just a few driveways further, when familiar white flashed and reflected in the sunlight... there, in the car lot, less than a block distance from the house (we later learned that the owner of the house where the El Camino lived was also the owner of the car lot), sat the El Camino..... with a FOR SALE sign hanging from the rear view mirror. I started to suck in an OH MY GOODNESS breath as my eyes instantly began to clear of tears and held on for dear life as Enz suddenly swerved into the car lot drive. He pulled up to the office door, slammed the car into PARK, got out, slammed the door, rushed up the stairs only to emerge seconds later with the owner of the car lot right behind him... he then opened up the car door and sat back in, again slamming the door while I waited with still misty but no longer flowing eyes waited quietly for explanation.....
"You just got your FUCKIN' El Camino! I told him to take the sign out of it and that we just have to drop the girls off at your mom's, go to the bank and we'll be back to pay for it... Now STOP YELLING at me and FOR CRYING OUT LOUD just... stop... CRYYYYYING already!!!!!" he hollered at me.
*sniffle*nod*sniffle* "I already have a special keychain for it..." I said quietly.
"I know... Gillian..... I know......." he answered.
Clearly not my most shining of moments and Enz still is amazed at how quickly my sickness was forgotten that day. I was still sick, I still coughed until I puked, I still could barely stand without falling but my newly-claimed happiness didn't allow the sickness to squash my spirits any longer. It was a really BAD day that ultimately turned into a really GOOD day!
The last two summers have been rough in not being able to drive but this summer my Lil' Elki and I, we're again gonna roll like thunder!
And here is my pride and joy... the one who dried my tears and cured my ails that fateful day...
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| Even though she wears my least favourite colour for a car, the white actually really kind of suits her... |
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| I was really lucky with this find because for a 1978, this lil' baby was in fantastic condition! |
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| Even the bed, although slightly pitted in spots from use over thirty-nine years is still in really great condition. |
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| My girls used to LOVE laying on their pillows in the bed to watch the neighbourhood kiddoes play on car washing Day... I miss them! |
Three years ago I decided she needed a bit of an uplift. It wasn't really necessary but I really just felt she needed to be all that I saw in her. We started with an engine enhancement. She had always run good but she was about to run with the big boys! We subbed the engine work out to the town masters of retro cars and she was back home in just under two weeks, just in time to get the summer rollin'.
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| Talk about lucking out with the motor and especially the frame because the car had been brought in from Arizona and when we took it to get checked out on our official test-drive the mechanic said the frame looked as though it had just come off the assembly line... I still would have had to have it anyhow. ;) |
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| We did have the engine built up a little though, not because she needed it but because she totally deserved it! |
We didn't do the engine work ourselves because I wanted it done quickly so I could still drive it for the whole season but in the Fall, right before putting her up on her dollies in the garage for her winter hibernation we did attempt our first ever try at gutting and redoing a vehicle interior. It was actually a really fun project since both Enz and I love working on cars. But it was a BIG task to take on and a few times I wondered if we were crazy for even taking it on! We first searched for the few replacement parts we needed and then figured out our plan before we started dismantling... I was so nervous to paint all the interior parts but I learned very quickly that I had to be sure of myself and figured out the airbrushing really quickly. Enz refused to even try the airbrushing but once I let myself stop panicking I really enjoyed doing the painting and it felt really good to be able to help beutify her, too! It was definitely an adventure but both Enz and I survived.
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| The interior was pretty perfect, too. No tears but just a couple of cracks in some of the plastic and colour fading of the upholstery due to many hot years spent in the Arizona sun and dry heat. |
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| When I said we had gutted her... I wasn't kidding. I had to paint the steering column inside the car which wasn't the most comfortable task but everything else was much easier to paint in our car workshop out back... which is now my quilting workshop. |
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| We took the seats to a car upholstery specialist but I designed the two-tone seat cover style Ibased on similar styles I had seen and liked in trucks of the sameish era. |
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| There really was nothing wrong with the old blue but I think this new updated tan really helped her inner beauty to shine. |
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| She looks like summertime now! |
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| And of course... the keychain I had waiting for her at home that day we found her in need of a new family. I had found this keychain about four years before in a truck stop convenience store. I knew I had to have it for the day my El Camino would be found so I bought it and I kept it in a Ziploc bag in my night side table. The keychain was a little more graceful in it's wait than I was. I love this little work-glove for my Lil' Elki... because she is such an elegant little car who is never afraid to work like a truck! |
All in all... I am beyond thrilled with my Lil' Elki, even though bringing her into my live wasn't (and still isn't) my most shining of moments. I'm pretty sure we all have moments we aren't exactly proud of but for me, moving happily past this moment was pretty easily done in my sweet new ride. Almost fourteen years later, I still get just so ecstatically excited every single time I turn the key and hear her her rumble start with a roar before setting into an easy rumbly purr as she too gets ready to roll.
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