Red or Silver

She arrived dressed in vintage eighties with bright pink lipstick. She was surely in her late fifties. I learned that she had moved from Ontario. She was picking up her rental because the company bringing her Ford Focus from the east was a few days late delivering. We had been waiting for her most of the afternoon and she arrived with a handsome humble looking man also in his late fifties. I gave her a choice between two Dodge Avengers - Red or Silver. Her immediate choice was the red one. The accompanying stranger was obviously more practical and advised her to go with the Silver one after all silver doesn't show dirt as well.

As I wrote up her rental contract I learned about how she arrived in our city. She met the stranger, who was actually her newlywed husband, online. An undetermined amount of time after they met through an online Christian dating site they were married in Maui. Since she lived in the east and he lived in the west they relied heavily on their faith to carry them through the challenge of a long distance relationship. Almost a year after being married and more than a hundred job applications later they were still living thousands of miles apart. Pink lipstick lady was super depressed and during church service over Christmas the minister said "Some things take time and remember your faith will be there with you during the wait. It was with this message in mind that Pink Lipstick Lady continued on optimistically. A short time later she got a transfer within her same company in our city and they were going to pay all of her moving expenses. Then after only one week of having her house on the market - it sold.

I always say if something is meant to be it will. This story brought a smile to my face for the remainder of the day. Long distance love tested by time and together at last a married couple starts their new chapter in life.  Soon her little Ford Focus will arrive on the train and I will see her again. I can't wait to hear the rest of the story.

Today's story is brought to you by the Red Dodge Avenger (AKA the Sporty Love Car) and the Ford Focus the more practical and economic choice.   So remember when faced with a short term choice like which rental car you should take throw caution to the wind and choose something outside the box.

The Farm Hand from Haida Gwaii

Farmer Jane and Joe were walk-ins. Jane and Joe were an older couple who had just had awful luck. Somehow that small patch of black ice on the highway..  . . one of the last this spring was the one which spun their small Pontiac G5 into the ditch. The damage was just bad enough to land their car in the body shop. They live about eighty kilometers from town. They had moved to our area a few years ago to be closer to Joe's daughter. His daughter owns a cattle farm and they moved from Haida Gwaii to be the farm hands.

So as we are doing the paperwork I noticed her really neat credit card holder. It's hand sewn and is a bright sapphire blue suede with a silk screened squirrel on it.  I ask her where she got it from and find out its from Floating Gold Iceberg a clothing design company based out of Victoria.

So we signed her up to drive a base model Gray Nissan Sentra. Farmer Jane was super happy to have wheels again to get them home. The car was a fabulous choice for them. Anyway after some effort looking for the keys which inadvertently got lost in Farmer Joe's pocket they left to get back to their busy farm life.  When she later returns the car she quickly emptied out her credit card wallet catching me by surprise by handing it to me. It was an unexpected gift that left me speechless and will be catalogued along with the memory of the homemade jam another customer left with me. Before she can leave I dug into my purse and pulled out the small card wallet I had brought as a souvenir from Africa. What a great trade and another great day in the car rental world.