Seven wrinkled shirts are beckoning for my attention in the laundry room and I should make sure they get done before the dinner bell tolls but I just can't seem to find the gumption to pull out the iron and do this chore. I'm not very good at it although I should be, my Grandpa Koch owned Band-Box Cleaners, a dry cleaning store and my Mom ran the place in high school, you would think that skill would have rubbed off on me at some point growing up. So here I am skirting my duties to play in my own thought world for a few minutes.
Recently I had to listen to myself and take my own advice and I am glad to say it was good advice and I was right. I wrote a post a long time ago about not letting circumstances get in the way of a possible passionate adventure and my word came back to haunt me, or maybe I should say, taunt me into casting care to the wind and just go with the flow.
A dear friend of Nathan's presented him with an outing that was right up his alley. The tickets for the outing were free, the only catch was the parking, food and babysitter for the day. Nathan was excited, I could tell, with the light dancing in his big brown eyes as he told me about this fun day. I got excited because I was going to be included; a date with the hubs is like winning the raffle at the fair for me. We don't get out much with work and school schedules.
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Pace Car leading the racers after the crash
Formula One Austin 2014
Photo By: Chandra Brown |
We were excited and grateful at the amazing thoughtfulness of 'Fat Jon' and his wife Teresa for inviting us to the Formula One race here in Austin. They won the tickets through their Combat Vet Association and of all their friends, they asked us.
For those who know, Formula One is not your typical venue. It wreaks with money and the ticket prices alone, in my humble opinion, should cause mini-heart palpitations. Well, when you research the parking lot tickets a massive heart attack should follow. A general ticket runs about $139 per person. Parking, according to the website was anywhere from $95 to $200 buckaroos. Although I survived the initial sticker shock, I did find that element of crazy to laugh about. I envisioned pulling up to the parking lot in our falling apart VW Passat, that we don't spend a dime on because the old gal just isn't worth it anymore, dole out a $100 dollars and in James Bond bravado tell the parking attendant not to scratch the baby.
The parking tickets got me thinking about the food prices and that's when I went ballistic. If parking is that much, food has to be horrendous and it's probably BAD food. I was threatening to wear baggy clothes and store food in my not so conspicuous parts in order to thwart the food cart scammers.
Then the battle of the babysitter came tumbling down the thought stairs hitting me square in the back of the head. It has not been our luck solidifying babysitters, all of the ones we use are amazing but they tend to be so good they are too busy and we end up not winning the scheduling battle, even when we pay premium prices and have an easy kid to watch. So I try, knowing the end result ends back at square one. I'll just say, the whole dating scene living here in Texas for the Browns is easily summed up in the Myth of Sisyphus.
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Nathan and Chandra Brown
'Kicking Sisyphus in the Nuts'
Photo by: Chandra Brown |
Admittedly, we could deal with the monetary problem, eating beans isn't beneath us but finding the child care was looming in our face. I called two babysitters and to no avail. We were stalled out at this point moving forward.
Now this part is where it gets interesting. Our lovely, generous parents (in-laws) were in town when we were discussing this event. They know we are frugal and responsible and don't do things that are rash, like spend $100 on a parking spot. We chatted about the pros and cons and their over 50 years of wedded wisdom was much appreciated; they said GO! Little did we know they left a little advantage in the form of money to tip the event in our favor which I found in a Bible after they had gone back home. Sneaky, sweet parents!
Problem solved, right? Not really, and here is where the interesting part begins. The part many may not understand and I still am grasping it myself but I know the lesson has to do with obedience and sacrifice and testing. This is where passion may begin to have a deeper meaning for me. I don't like being vulnerable and telling it like it is to the www or to strangers or even people I know for that matter, but this lesson hopefully will show God is in control (something He specifically has said to me, but that's another story)
Even with all the initial hurdles seemingly taken out of the way, there was one last dilemma to encounter. It had to do with loyalty. We were both excited to finally have a date and one that was on our bucket list. Nathan's birthday was around the same time and he tends to take the back seat for celebrations because he has to work or we are a little tight in the budget. This event was beginning to pan out perfectly, when the thought occurred to me, "You forgot to tithe this month."
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Don't we know it!
Photo by: Chandra Brown |
I did the quick bank check and realized if we went to the event even with the gifted money we would be cutting it extremely close, and mortgage is in the beginning of the month, leaving us with virtually zero in the account. The hounding thought of not giving our first fruit to God nagged me, we've been faithful even during these hard years of struggling financially. I had to be honest with Nathan and be the bearer of not so fun news and make a decision from there.
We would forgo the event and be obedient to God instead. I sent the tithe check and we went about the next couple of days in our usual way. No complaining, no boo hooing.
Then our friend sent a link he found for parking that was only $20 for motorcycles. This renewed information put that light back in my husband's eyes and got me to put out the S.O.S to my very busy neighbors. Two angels heard the call and said they could split the day and take care of Alex. It looked like we were going to have that long awaited date after all.
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Bugatti
A step or 100 up from the VW Passat
Photo by: Chandra Brown |
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Mama Mia-Ferrari
Photo by: Chandra Brown |
Highlights of Race Day:
The first lap of the race a Formula One car crashed and had to be lifted off the track by a crew and a crane. Nathan and I were glad the driver was not hurt but it brought an exhilarating adrenaline rush knowing 2.6 million dollars was put out of commission right before our eyes and we didn't have to care about it.
We made out like bandits, the Formula One event cost us $42 dollars when all was said and done.
Nathan and I got to see so many beautiful cars. One of our favorite at home date nights is to sit and watch Top Gear together. We actually got to see many of the cars Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and the Stig drive.
I say this was opportunity executed with SUCCESS, we totally scored in the passion adventure factor!
