Hey everyone! Hope you’re doing well this Sunday. My beautiful wife Lizzie and I just got back from a weekend trip to Franklin, Tennessee for an engagement party. It was really more of a wedding shower that couples were invited to instead of just women (although I was the only male on the bride’s side that came besides family). The other reason I refute its “engagement party” status is because we went to Nashville the day they got engaged for a surprise party that happened directly afterwards. But I digress.
Last Saturday at 5:02 PM in the Eastern time zone I received a call from my father, Gustavo. He informed me that he and Beth were at the BMW dealership looking at a new (used) car, specifically a 2022 BMW X5. She previously had a 2019 white BMW X3 and every time Lizzie and I rode in it, I mentioned in a joking fashion that when she got a new car I would gladly take her old one. All this to say - I knew exactly why he called me. The conversation lasted 3 minutes.
We spoke again at 8:27 PM, this time for 12 minutes. Gus and Beth were arriving in their golf cart to Fireside Pizza, a family favorite spot. I expressed my excitement for both her and myself, then we began to talk logistics. Several ideas were thrown out on how we’d navigate this car delivery with the 8+ hour distance between us. I’m coming down to FL for my birthday in July, so Gus mentioned that I could drive it back up to ATL that weekend. “It would be a great birthday present”, Beth remarked. I then asked how we’d get my current car, a beautiful 2012 Acura TSX with only 94,000 miles on it, down to Florida. Gus was stumped. I could theoretically drive both ways, but we’re flying down on Thursday, July 17th (my birthday) and I don’t necessarily want to spend 8 hours in a car on my 30th birthday. He said he’d talk to the car dealership guy about tag/insurance ideas when they bought the car the next day and we left it there.
We spoke again for 11 minutes at 9:57 PM. He had a “light bulb” moment. Gus would drive my new car up and then take the Acura on the way back. Pretty good idea! I assumed he’d be doing this on Monday-ish, staying the night, and departing the next morning. He clarified a few minutes later that he was indeed planning on doing this the very next day. Wow! He wasn’t sure when exactly he’d leave, so we agreed to speak first thing the next morning.
I awoke around 7:30 AM to the sound of Lizzie coming up the stairs. She was talking with Gus on speaker phone. She hung up and then made sure I was awake. Lizzie then explained that Gus told her he was in Ocala and that we should clean my car out and start driving, then see where we meet. It all happened so fast. I woke up, brushed my teeth, and we went down and emptied out my car. By 8:30, we were on the road. I hadn’t even officially said that I wanted the new car (I, of course, wanted it).
We spoke with Gus on the phone no less than 10 more times during our drive. Exit 109 in south Georgia was the agreed upon meeting spot. It took Lizzie and I a little less than 2 hours to get to that quaint exit, where we found Gus leaving the combined McDonalds / gas station. He shook his head, signaling “don’t go in there” and let us know it was a s***show in there. We went walked back to where we parked our cars, exchanged hugs, titles, swapped our belongings between cars, and just as quick as we arrived we were headed out separate ways.
Lizzie and I stopped at two places on the way home. The first was Buc-ee's for lunch and the second was the outlet mall south of Atlanta for some light shopping. She drove when we left the outlets to test out the new car and by 3 PM, we were home once more. At 4 PM (he called a few times before this of course), Gustavo and my ol’ reliable Acura were back in Palm Harbor.
Less than 24 hours after my dad called me for the first time, the car swap was complete. What a ride.
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