Mustang Sally

Carrie posted about our friend Katie’s 30th birthday here.

When we talked about Kate’s birthday, we decided that we wanted to do something fun and different for Katie-- something we wouldn’t normally do. We paired the idea of renting a convertible with a night away at Carrie’s family’s river house for a girls’ night celebration.

Carrie secured the river house and my job was to reserve the car. When I called the rental car place, I spoke to a really nice lady who told me that I could reserve a convertible, from the “E Class” which would be a Chrysler Sebring or comparable car. I was fine with the Sebring (a convertible is a convertible was our philosophy on the deal), even though I haven’t really even seen a Sebring since elementary school. I will never forget Mr. Doyle, my music teacher and chorus sponsor driving a gold Sebring convertible.

As soon as I made our reservation, I started seeing convertibles everywhere. I was so excited for ours, until I was at the grocery store a couple days after reserving the car and I saw a gold Sebring convertible with gold rims. I cringed and hoped and prayed that “our” Sebring would not look like it had been a guest on “Pimp my Ride.”

Carrie and I laughed and joked for weeks about what the color of our Sebring would be.

We decided to choose some party colors and decorate a little for Katie’s big shin-dig…we went with zebra stripes and red. Carrie had read some quote about being “Flirty at 30” so we thought the zebra and red fit that well.

The decorations & Cake

On Friday morning, I called to make sure the car was ready. The clerk asked for the name on the reservation and put me on hold. When she came back, she said that the car was ready and she’d seen me later that day. Before we got off the phone, I had to ask, “what kind of car did we end up getting?” With the most serious voice I’ve ever heard, the lady replied, “you got a wild stallion and it’s a red-head.” Even though I had no idea what she meant, I thanked her and hung up the phone.

I put two and two together and assumed that we’d gotten a mustang.

When I got to the airport to pick the car up, the same lady on the phone, greeted me at the counter. She asked for the name my reservation was under and went to the back to get my keys. When she returned, she raised her eyebrows and with the same serious voice, looked me right in the eye and said, “Ma’am, I need to ask- Do you have cowboy boots and a hat?” I shook my head, a little confused. She handed me the car keys and said, “this one’s a red-headed wild stallion…and these here are her reins. You enjoy her now!” With a giggle and a signature I was on my way.

As I pulled out on the road I just laughed out loud. How perfect the car was…..A brand new mustang convertible and it was RED…we’d gotten our convertible and it even matched the party colors.

I picked up Carrie and we surprised Katie. We got to Suwannee just in time to get a little sun on the dock and sip some McAlister’s sweet tea. Mmmm.

We had so much fun letting the wind blow through our hair and just enjoying the wide open road, while reassuring Kate that 30 is nothing more than a number.

And we all took a turn driving Sally.

The Birthday Girl taking her turn behind the wheel. Carrie taking Sally for a test spin

Before I took ole Sally back on Saturday, I made a few stops.

First, I stopped at my Granny’s. I wanted Granny to ride with the top down. She would have loved it. And the fact that it was red would have sealed the deal. Red is her favorite color. I will never forget getting my first car and the first stop we made was to my grandparent’s house to show them! My Granny insisted on driving my red VW beetle and I think she loved it almost as much as me. Papa wheeled himself up to the front and hopped in, while I sat in the back and Granny drove us down the dirt road. When we’d made it to the hard road, she stomped it and put that little red beetle in the wind. When she went to turn around, she stalled out (it was a stick-shift…which, by the way, I didn’t even know how to drive the day I got it!). It would have been funny that Granny stalled out except for the fact that when I looked out the rear windshield, all I could see were headlights. Headlights of a SEMI truck. I cringed and waited for it to plow in the back of us as my Papa was yelling, “Get it in gear, Peggy!” and in what seemed like 2 seconds, the big semi flew around us with a long honk of his horn. All we could do was laugh. Granny has always loved to laugh and I know that riding in that convertible would have made her do just that. She was gone to a hair appointment, though, so she didn’t get to see it.

My mom and I went for a little drive in it, though. I just wanted everyone to see how fun a convertible was! Ha…

After that, I went home so that DW and AB could have a little ride, too. We went all Britney Spears and let Annabelle ride with the top down. (It was only down our driveway!) But she loved it!

It was a fun 24 hours that Sally and I had together. When I went to turn the keys in I was a little sad that our time was over. For a few hours it was fun to relive some girl time from my younger years and felt so freeing to be driving top-down with no car seat in the back. But as I handed over the keys, I smiled even bigger because as fun as Sally was, I wouldn’t trade my momma-mobile with a car-seat strapped in the back for anything… Even a VW beetle convertible ! :)

~amw~