Grandpa's 2016 Chevrolet Camaro Dream

The Chevrolet Camaro has been on showroom floors since 1966, so its no wonder that its a car that would still appeal to the grandparents of the world. Maybe not the most practical car, nor the most comfortable--but if its been a lifelong dream, then why give up that dream just because society thinks you should tug around in a battle-ship sized sedan, right?

Dream Big, You Only Live Once

Yesterday, I took my daughters to the mall for an indoor trick-or-treat marathon. As soon as we walked in, we were face-to-face with a brand-spanking new Camaro. It glimmered in the light, taking up most of the floor in the entrance. Scores of costumed children and adults were ooohing and ahhing as they passed by, and not a few stopped to fill out their names to enter in the drawing.


As we walked in, there was a group of people to one side. An elderly couple, and what must be their adult daughter and her two small children. As mom fussed and straightened costumes, Grandpa cuddled to his chest a newborn baby, no bigger than a
zucchini. Dressed in his tiny baseball jammies, this little man was no more than two weeks old, and slept soundly. No cares in the world, no interest in pumpkins or candy or Camaros.


As the women fretted over the children, Grandpa glanced toward the new car. The rest of the group began to walk toward the main part of the mall, ready to join the line. The elderly man hung back, glancing at the car again.


Grandma gave him an impatient gesture, and he rocked the baby and followed the others slowly toward the chaos ahead. The two older children skipped ahead, and the two women rushed to catch them. As if by magic, the foursome was swallowed into the crowd. Grandpa halted.

Did He Dare to Dream?

Glancing back toward the black hole where his family had vanished, he retreated toward the new Camaro. He hurried to the table where the entry cards were stacked, and whispered something to his slumbering companion.


Tucking the baby tighter against his chest with one arm, the man began to hurriedly fill out entry cards. As he wrote and rewrote all the information, he kept glancing up anxiously to see if he had been discovered. All the while, he never stopped gently rocking to and fro.


When he was satisfied, or when he maxed out his entry allowances, he gave the last card a firm tap with the pen. As if to say " There, take that!"


He dropped the entries into the box, gave the car one last look, and ambled away.

Age Is Just A Number

These days, aging is just a bunch of statistics being thrown around by healthcare professionals and insurance companies and people trying to get you to buy their revolutionary diet book. Those numbers are useful for a lot of things; they let us know who is at risk for diseases, how rampant certain issues may become if not treated, and how much it will cost to retire.


As they count pennies, and year, and pills, and interest rates, they forget other numbers. How many dreams come and go without ever being realized? How many people let go of what they want because the numbers say they should?


When we band together, we fight for the elderly. But usually it is to take stuff away. We fight to get rid of Alzheimer's and cancer, to lower prescription costs, to replace faulty joints, to ban elder abuse, to cut down on the need for long-term care...basically, we work very hard to take away any reason for older people to need others.


But what do we really put back in? As a society, we still scream at people that once you reach certain age milestones, you are "supposed to do things this way."

• She is too old to wear that. 
• He shouldn't do that at his age. 
• They should have done that when they were young and carefree. 
• If you eat/drink/smoke/drive that it will kill you.

So if we could eradicate all the bad stuff in the world, and the elderly could live very long and healthy lives, what fun would they have if we kept pressuring them to live small, hold on tightly to their money, stay safe, and be practical?


Maybe we take away a few of those dreams too, but not talking enough about what senior citizens could be doing with all those years of improved life quality stretching out before them. But at the same time we send mixed messages. We applaud seniors citizens who skydive or rock climb or bungee jump.


And those seniors are awesome. Extreme sports however, might not be in the books for everyone. Maybe some elderly folk just want to wear those trendy ripped jeans. Or binge on pizza. Or, you know...cruise around town in a hot, new muscle car.

Everybody likes some great incentives to keep on living, after all.

And The Winner of the Chevrolet Camaro IS...

Of course, I will never know. But I secretly hope that the elderly grandfather wins his dream car.
Maybe he doesn't necessarily need a Camaro. (I mean, it didn't really have a lot of room for car seats.) But wouldn't it be great if one day, he could take his grandson on his knee and say...

"Did I ever tell you the story about the day you helped me win a new car?"

Don't you agree?