First you see it....

Virtual school puts me in its own little world.

Which can lead to surprises when I come out. Carrie cleaned out the whole garage on Monday. 

She was cleaning the Volvo when I came out to grab a Clif bar for lunch.

The Volvo was sold before my last class.

I was caught between stunned and thankful.

The Volvo has been a growing problem. We parked it in the pole barn while the garage. Heavy rains had a tendency to seep in somehow (despite hearing several times "It's fixed"), so we wanted it under cover.

Only the moisture found a way in.

After a month of collecting humidity and cooking it, mold moved in.

A 120k miles, hidden leak, mold, intermittent AC, alignment issue, worn tires, and the need for a safety inspection? I thought the scratches and paint chips were minor while leaned towards major, but there were some of those, too. 

It screamed mechanic's special. For us to pay for the repairs would be costly, but someone with the tools, time, and know-how could pay themselves to fix it for a turnaround. 

We talked about it. I was open to the idea. Carrie was gung-ho. We looked at each other and said, "$1,000?"

I meant to do more research, but that fateful day I logged off the computer and found it was already all done! 

Hence the "stunned and thankful." I would have liked to have been in the process and known exactly what we could have got. I was also glad I didn't have to be in the process when I was already busy enough with other things and Carrie handled it all!

I've settled on thankful, by the way. I don't know when I would've handled it had it been left to me!

Carrie said that she felt compelled to tackle the Volvo. She intended to do a quick rinse, but an inner voice kept urging her on. So she tackled the inside and cleaned out all of Shane's old food crumbs and pulled lost board game bits from between the seat cushions.

Once it was sparkling, she drove it to a local tire shop to get the nail fixed Costco wouldn't patch ($25). She asked the owner where she could get a state inspection, and said, "One more thing done before it can be sold!"

The owner started to ask more questions.

"How much were you looking for?" he asked.

"$1,500" Carrie replied.

She told him about the issues and he took the Volvo for a spin while Carrie played with the shop cat (which she fell in love with).

He came back and said, "Sold."

Thankfully, the cat wasn't part of the deal.

Carrie went by the tire shop later with Shane to drop off all the keys (while I was still unaware and at work!). She said she saw the owner hard at work prettying up the Volvo. 

I'm curious if he's planning to keep it or flip it, so I'll have to check online to see if it's for sale at some point.

That's a lot of crazy coincidences. Plenty of reasons to be thankful! Carrie did a great job and I decided to get over being stunned once I heard the whole story.

"So this means you're willing to give me a truck key now?" I asked.

"We'll need to buy one from the dealership," Carrie said.

Miracles do happen!