While mowing grassy lawns at Zachrich Trucking, I received the terrible phone call that my second cousin Elle had passed away. After having breast cancer for the previous eight years, it had found its way back. She lived in Virginia along with most of my father’s family. My family and I vacationed there every year, and she always let us swim at her pool. My dad, sister, and I visited there for the funeral, but in three short days we had to return back to Ohio. Saddened by the death of a loving, caring person, the trip home was silent.

            Finally, we arrived home after the long eight-hour trip from Virginia. The trip always went by quickly, but this time it took forever. Thinking of the loved one we just loss, the trip was taking forever. I was so sad that my heart felt like it had just dropped to the bottom of my stomach. My dad whispered to me while my sister slept that everything was going to be all right, and talked about how she was in a better place. With so much sadness in my heart, nothing could make me feel better. Nothing. At least that was what I thought.

            We were pretty much home, and I could see my mom’s house when I noticed a baby blue truck parked in the high school parking lot. I remember thinking to myself, ‘I’ve never seen that truck before.’ The truck was an older Chevy truck, and it was the only vehicle in the whole parking lot. Glad to be home, I didn’t think anything of it.

We pulled into my driveway to see my Uncle Bob wondering around the yard. He yelled, ”They’re home, Kristen,” and I soon saw my mom wander outside. While not being in the greatest mood, I was very excited to see my family. I jumped out of the car like a lion chasing a deer. Grabbing our bags from the trunk, my sister and I raced to see our family.

When I walked into the house, my older brother, RJ, had a smile on his face. I remember being confused because he usually never wore a smile across his face. We talked for a bit, and then we walked outside where my mom and dad were talking about the trip down South. As my dad pulled out of the driveway, my mom asked to take my dogs for a walk. I originally said no, but she really wanted me too, so I agreed to.

 As we entered the paved school parking lot on our way out to the school track where we walked our dogs, she suddenly sat on the old Chevy truck I had noticed earlier. I asked her, ”Mom, why are you sitting on that truck?”

She then smiled and confessed, “You mean, your truck?” My smile reached from coast to coast and couldn’t believe what she had done for me. Searching like a rutting buck, I would get my license at the end of the month.

We all jumped in and took it down the slightly wet road to my grandma’s house. I smelled the black ice air freshener my mom had put in to cover then smell of black coffee spilled on the seats. The truck roared down Highland Center Road, and we soon arrived.  As we pulled in the drive way, my grandpa yelled, ”Pop that hood and let’s see what she’s got under there.” I smiled and popped it open and checked out the engine.

In the baby, blue truck on our way home down Hill Road, I thought to myself how when life has a person down, it only takes something little to put a smile back on his or her face.