It all started…
…About a week ago, Jon did what he normally does. He sprang an idea on Erica. A well thought out idea. The kind of thing where she knew he didn’t just think of it. He’d been thinking of it but just decided to clue her in. You see, we do a lot of driving – I mean A LOT! We meet clients at locations all over the state which racks up the mileage pretty quickly. A few of you know we also run a real estate photography company as well, so that has us on the road even more! Last week alone Jon even had to drive a 700 mile round trip for a commercial job!
Because of all the driving, Jon sprung an idea Erica thought she would never hear. He has this relationship on the side. Luckily for him, she’s always been ok with it. It all started a couple of years ago when a 2001 Jeep Cherokee rolled into his life. Ever since then, he’s been in love. It’s one of those things where he knows its an old junky Jeep with over 200,000 miles. He know’s it’s not a luxury ride and that it’s not the quickest way to get around town. But that’s not what matters. It’s a solid, tough chunk of steel powered by a 4.0L bullet proof straight six engine with ground clearance and oversized tires to get him anywhere he’ll never need to go! But did we mention, it’s also terribly thirsty for fuel??
The Big Idea
So that was it, Jon came up with the idea to sell the Jeep and get himself a car. To say Erica was thrilled is putting it lightly. To say she was caught off guard doesn’t even scratch the surface. But then her heart sunk – that meant we’d have to start car shopping…something Jon hasn’t always been ‘pro’ at. We won’t go into detail here, but let’s just reinforce the old adage that ‘if it seems too good to be true, it most definitely is!’
Jon’s plan was so well thought out that he had already been on Craigslist shopping and had a good idea of what he was looking for. Within a day he had meetings set up to look at different vehicles and left excited and ready to find a diamond in the rough! He came back hours later with his head hung low, discouraged and with a renewed appreciation for clever camera work! (Who would have thought that they only showed THAT angle because the other side of the car was trashed!?)
But then he found it.
It looked perfect.
It was priced right.
Everything they had to say about it lined up. Dealer maintained. Garage kept. Immaculate interior. He was cautiously sold on it before he ever saw it in person. When he finally did see it he called and told Erica it was ‘the one’ and was on the way to the bank to get the cash.
Ahhhh…relief! This whole used car buying thing couldn’t have gone any smoother this time! No weeks of searching. No shady meet ups. Easy. Peasy.
We happily trekked across the valley in rush hour traffic to pick up the sweet ride, grabbed the keys and turned back for home! Being the practical joker that she is, Erica got a great idea!
The Foretelling Phone Call
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Jon: “Hey!”
Erica: “Jon… that car is smoking!”
Jon: – silence – No. Way.
Erica: (long drawn out pause) “…..ok! I let you sweat it out enough! HAHAHA!”
Jon: “NOT even funny!!”
So we continued driving home when as fate would have it Erica realized she really did see smoke coming out of the tailpipes!! She panicked and called Jon, who after the last phone call didn’t believe her at first! She described what she saw as best she could and based on the description Jon thought worst case scenario. Jon immediately tried to call the seller, who was unwilling to take the vehicle back…so, we were stuck.
‘Jon, you just bought a lemon!’
Those were the words Jon had resonating in his head. The joyful drive back home in a new-to-us car turned into a long, slow, depressing trip back across the valley.
Since Jon hadn’t seen the issue first hand he decided to pull over and switch cars with Erica so he could see the smoke for himself. That’s when Jon saw that the ‘white/light gray smoke’ that Erica reported was actually dark black. White/light gray smoke could indicate engine problems. Dark black smoke, well that was just confirmation that the turbocharger in the car was doing its job. Poor Erica. Nothing, in fact, was wrong with the car.
The Lesson Learned
It was a whirlwind of a day. A complete emotional rollercoaster. But, it taught us a valuable lesson.
Jon was already moving on in his head to selling the ‘lemon’ and buying another car. Erica had already been in tears and worried about the situation we had gotten ourselves into.
And it was all for nothing.
We realized in that moment that things aren’t always as they seem. Sometimes you have to take a step back, take a deep breath, and do your best not to jump to conclusions. Not every situation in life leaves you driving away with a ‘lemon’.
But, when life does give you lemons….make lemonade!
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