That Stings a Little

I worked for my brother-in-law's moving company, Mini Movers, during my last two years of college. Besides building up my shoulders, arms, and back muscles, I had a lot of fun, and I saw some crazy stuff. Trust me, when you help someone move the entire contents of their home, you see things they would never show their best friends. My that in mind, I was really happy that the guys from Two Men and a Truck saw my stuff when they helped us move last weekend.

You see, Daphne doesn't share my opinion of what's cool, and when I excitedly share my treasures from a day of hitting garage sales and/or thrift stores, she doesn't show much excitement. "Mmm hmm," is about all she'll say while she bites her lower lip. That can be a bit of a downer.

Here's a good example. Awhile ago I came home with this bike. It's a late 60's Schwinn Stingray Fastback with a 5 speed shifter, and it's also the bike I wished I could have had when I was a kid. That shifter is boss. 

Check out the bicycle license stickers. Local history rules. 

Somewhere in our new garage I have the front chrome fender, the correct banana seat, and a nice seat post, too. 

When I first showed the Fastback to Daphne, she asked, "Did you buy a bicycle?"
"It's a Stingray! Do you know how hard it is to find one of these out in the wild?"
"Isn't that a kid's bike?"
"Well, yeah. But it's about the coolest kid's bike in the world."
"What are you going to do with a kid's bike?"
I told her I was going to strip it, clean every part, replace whatever was worn out, reassemble all the parts, and then polish the Fastback like nobody's business.
"Are you going to ride it?"
"Probably not, but it's gonna be so cool!"
"Mmm hmm."

Daphne just doesn't understand retro cool. Luckily, the movers did. I wasn't there when the guys unloaded my bike from the moving truck, but one of them propped the Stingray on its kickstand, and the rest of the crew gathered around it take in its awesomeness. 

Daph later told me, "They all thought it was a great bike, Brent. Several of the guys continued to talk about it while they were loading boxes into our garage. I told them I was relieved because when you bring things like this home, I just don't get it. They really liked the Bug and your skateboards, too."

I suppose I could be frustrated because it took a group of strange men to convince my wife of ten years that I have good taste, but I'll just take it as permission to go back to Goodwill.

similar bike link