How about a little story about car dreams that come true .....

When I was a little girl ,around 8 years old, we were by all accounts very poor. My father drove an old black station wagon with red interior, so old that the floor boards in the back seat area were rusted through. We kids , six of us, had to sit with our feet on the center bump, so as not to have our feet fall through.I used to watch the road go by through the h***,somewhat curios,amused and afraid at times,that my foot would slip off and go through that h***.

Do not get me wrong here, we loved that car and when my dad finally did drive it til it dropped, we were all very sad. You could always tell when Dad was about to get home ,as you could hear it creaking and rattling as it crossed the bridge downtown, and six little ones would run out .. Daddy's home! Dadddy's home!! ....... How many times had we gone to the beach, fishing, the woods in that car ... that car was a member of the family. Fondly remembered to this day!

Anyway, so you have the picture, no one I knew had much better in the way of cars when I was growing up.

One morning I was playing in the back yard and decided to wander down the alley that cut the block in half.
We lived in an interesting area, on the corner lived Dr Fox in his big fancy house with a swimming pool, next door lived the McGregor's , whose house was brick perfection with large well maintained and beautiful yard , and there we were three houses in , in a house nearly a 100 years old, rambling and big, with the living room ceiling having caved in ...leaving slats and horsehair hanging, and if you laid on the couch you see the plaster float on sunbeams coming in the window .. quickly closing your eyes if someone upstairs walked around , to keep it out of your eyes..... interesting dichotomy. I found being poor to be an interesting journey of odd and unusual sights! More interesting than demoralizing.

Anyway, back to the story... So, this sunny beautiful Saturday morning, I cross the length of the back yard and cut into the alley way ... turn right .. and stop dead in my tracks, the sun is shining down and illuminating one of the most beautiful, awe inspiring things I have ever seen!!

There sits , glistening in the sun, a caramel colored, shiny, sleek, Mercedes Benz... I was awestruck.. I had never seen anything like it .... I walked slowly over ,round and round this amazing object of beauty and grace., I wanted to touch it but I was not sure one could or should. Looking in the windows the seats were cream leather, and there was a wooden console with a radio in it. I was enchanted and charmed and just stood back watching the way the sunlight played off the windows, the chrome. It seem ed like something in a fairy dream. This little 8 year old girl made a single thought, then and there. I want one of those, when I grow up. I forgot about it for a very long time after.

Fast forward - San Francisco - 20+ years later, married, child, husband, gone to the land of gold to start our own business in the State of promise ..... Husband goes out to get us a car ... comes home .."Honey, I put in for a Mercedes,... I don't think we will actually get it ... but I hope so.... OH I we will get it I said .. suddenly something nice in my chest .. an air of excitement .....He wants to know .. How can you be so sure about things ... hmm... don't know honey ... I just know it .. somehow ...

Voila- APPROVED! He finally lets me take her out some weeks later .... and there I am ... sitting behind the wheel of a nearly identical Mercedes .....cream leather interior, wood panel console ... the most beautiful translucent , sparkling blue/green body, the color of the ocean on a sunny day .. glistening .. Flying across the Golden Gate bridge .. whipping through the afternoon mists .... sliding into the curve of the turning lane better than 60 mph .. ... wind whipping through my hair .... suddenly remembering ........ an 8 year old girls dream ......... smiling .. oh I am smiling ..... The cop loud speakers from behind me ..... "Hey Lady .. slow er down just a bit " ... I look in the rear view mirror ... and he is grinning too! Somehow he must of known I was a dream inside a dream right then ...........Woo hoo...

Moral of the story ............ Don't just sell them a car ...........give them their dream!! And little poor girls can grow up to drive Mercedes!!!