BOYS AND THEIR TOYS!
My hubby recently received a huge desire of his heart – a Hummer. The macho one, not the smaller version. An alpha-male mobile! (Picture posted on www.joy-cafe.com.)
He has wanted one for forever but he is a patient and deliberate man. He can’t be forced into purchasing anything no matter how expert the salesmen think they are. He can’t be guilt-ed, manipulated or pushed into anything (darn it). He will not pay more than he has decided to pay. His favorite line is, “There’s always another one.” Sometimes these attributes drive me up a wall although they are excellent attributes.
He first introduced me to “there’s always another one” at the same time he introduced me to auction barns. If you are not familiar with auction barns, they are a place where people bring things to sell and an auctioneer holds something up – like a lamp - and asks for a bid on it. People raise their hands or a card to indicate they are willing to pay that price. It goes on until someone has the highest bid. When no one wants to pay more than the highest bid, the bidding ends.
I HATE paying a lot of money for something so I would refuse to go above a certain amount. Then the bidding would end at a dollar more than I was willing to pay and I’d get mad at myself for not bidding more. Hubby told me that you can be fooled into bidding “one more dollar” until you’ve bid way more than you intended to. He tells me to stick to my price and when I don’t get the item, “there’s always another one.”
Just because that line is true does not mean I like to hear it when I didn’t get something I wanted. Just because I may find a better one somewhere else down the line does not mean I wanted to give up the one I was bidding on. You know?
What does that have to do with the Hummer? Nothing. I just thought about it.
On to the Hummer. I was rejoicing with hubby about his new toy. He haughtily informed me that this was NOT a toy. It was a tool… a necessity. I said, “Unh huh. Sure it is.” He may not show it but inside he’s jumping up and down like a little kid going, “Yippie, yippie. I got it! I got it! I’m the man! Yes I am!” He can’t fool me.
Boys and their toys are a sight to behold. It can be anything from a 1969 Chevy Malibu that roars when you push the gas peddle to my son’s recent dream desire, his 4-wheeler and his new truck to the camera used to take the hummer picture.
When a man achieves a heart’s desire, he tries to be cool about it. Women may tell everyone, laugh and rejoice loudly. Men will smile and act like,“It ain’t all that.” I say LIARS!
We took the Hummer for a test drive Saturday evening. Passing by the little store in our small town, I noticed the tanker truck was there filling the gas tanks. The man was standing on top of the tanker truck. As God is my witness, he almost fell off the tanker truck, staring at the Hummer. He waved (we don’t know him) and watched us until we were out of sight.
We stopped to eat at a restaurant. Upon leaving, the owner was coming back into the restaurant and stopped my husband to tell him how much he admired his Hummer. The owner had gone outside to check the Hummer out. I can’t describe how it was but if it were a cartoon, his tongue would have been hanging down to his chin and there would have been drool running from his lips. I swear hubby’s shoulders went back straighter and he strutted back to the vehicle. He’ll deny it, but I was there.
Taking it to work, men from the office commented to my hubby about his new toy. Oh they act all cool, but they are so jealous, they can’t stand it. They all want to drive it around the block. They may talk about needing to drive an economical vehicle for great gas mileage but inside they all still want the biggest, baddest machine on the road.
Nothing has changed since I was in high school when the boys were roaring up and down the street. The toys just got more expensive!!
Got a boy’s toy you want to tell me about??
