Creativity As Capital

What does it always come down to? Money! Or does it? Mostly yes, but it doesn't have to. If only I could get that message to the elected who are constipating our nation. (Oops, I almost slipped into political commentary there.) And here at About POPS we leave that exercise in futility to other forums.

Yesterday, we (I) returned from our favorite Ford dealership forlorn. It's not the fault of our favorite father/son sales team or Alan Mullally. They did all they could. But the reality is that the "TV" we need exceeds our budget. (I didn't know until recently that "TV" in RV parlance means "Tow Vehicle".

You see in my dream-scheme to have an Airstream® I was thinking only about which Airstream would be best for the vision I had. A few times during the search, I've said out loud, "This is the one; and look, it's a great deal!" Several times we've actually gone to walk through, kick the tires, and picture ourselves sitting next to a cold, clear stream, with rainbow trout jumping and the grandgirls frolicking nearby.

My Amazing-Missus reins me back to reality. "Aren't you getting the cart before the horse?" she says. "More accurately, why are you shopping for a cart when you don't even have a horse to pull it?"

That reality is why we were at the Ford dealership. Now, to my friends who sell and/or are loyal to other brands, let me explain that the decision to look at Fords was based on extensive Googling about the best TV to have. Consensus is that the Ford F-150 with an Eco-Boost V6, trailer-towing package and a 3.55:1 axle is the way to go. Turns out that even though we're in the "final days" of something called "The Ford Built Tough Sales Event," I would still have to finance the thing beyond my life-expectancy to be able to afford the payments.

If I knew for sure that those radio evangelists you pick up in the small numbers of your AM dial were right about their take on the "Final Days", I would tell our sales-guys, "We'll take a His and Hers pair." I'll pull, she can push.

To be honest, I found the budget hill so formidable that I actually told my Amazing-Missus I was dropping this dream along with the one about seeing the Beatles play live, and the one about hanging out in a English pub with The Inklings, and the one about living in a Chicago loft overlooking Lake Michigan...

Our Amazing Daughter-in-Law called while we were Ford F-150 shopping, so she knew what we were up to. Later she texted to see how the search went. I explained to her that it looked like the dream was being dashed against the rocks of that beautiful shoreline, I had dreamt of camping beside some day.

Apparently she shared with our oldest grandgirl, Karlee, that our budget was short. Karlee told her, "I will give Pops all the money in my piggy-bank if he will only take me to Walt Disney World in the Airstream."

Exchanging my dream for one less-expensive is one thing. But when my grandgirl has the vision too, how can I give up now?!

So to my premise that money is not always the problem; lack of creativity is, I'm going to have to get creative big time. It's going to take all my creativity and the contents of Karlee's piggy bank to make this dream reality.

Walt Disney World: here we come!

Stay tuned to hear the results of the creative brainstorming. And by all means, if you have any ideas, bring them on.