Today’s Word from Deacon Amy…
I don’t talk about it much, but I went through a pretty difficult divorce several years ago. After all of the paperwork was filed, and things were finally settled, I went out and bought myself a new truck (well, new to me). I know most young girls don’t dream about trucks, but I did. As a teenager, I had magazine center-fold pictures of Dodge trucks on my bedroom walls – among the horse pictures, of course. When the divorce was finalized and I was “on my own,” I finally bought myself that truck that I’d always dreamed about.
It was a 2004 Dodge Ram 2500 Quad Cab 4×4 with a diesel engine – I know I’ve lost some of you already. The point is, it was a big, powerful truck that could do everything I needed it to do, and it looked really good too! I named her Rhonda – trucks need names. I used that truck for years to haul hay and feed, pull our heavy horse trailer over the mountains, and take my kids to school. I helped a couple of friends move, too – that’s what you do when you have a truck.
When my husband, Allen, started his construction company on Whidbey, I handed over the keys to my truck. Since then, Rhonda has turned into a daily work truck, hauling lumber and supplies and pulling a dump trailer full of gravel or wood chips. Of course, she still carries hay and moves goats around when needed.
Yesterday afternoon, Allen called me from the jobsite to let me know that he needed a ride home – Rhonda wasn’t going to make it. With nearly 300,000 miles on her, we knew the time was coming.
It really surprised me how sad I was to realize that Rhonda won’t be carrying us around anymore. I guess I had never really thought about the fact that this day would come.
It seems silly, really. I mean after all, it’s just a truck, right? But for me, there is a lot of emotion tied up in this truck. This truck was a symbol of my independence – I picked her out by myself, I looked her over, I took her for a test drive, and I paid for her, all by myself. She’s been with me through a lot, and has always gotten me where I needed to go. It’s hard to say goodbye.
Ecclesiastes 3:4 reminds me that there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” Today I’m sad, and that’s ok. Tomorrow will be better.
Maybe tomorrow we’ll start looking for our next truck.
Deacon Amy
