Every young boy dreams of the day he gets his very own car. Me being one of them, I have a great story of how my dreams came true. It was my fifteenth birthday, a year away from the day I could finally get behind the wheel all by myself for the first time. The only issue with this utopia was that I had no car to drive on that day and time was running short on getting something. Luckily for me, my parents decided to surprise me on that day with something unimaginable.
I remember the day in clear detail. I was hanging out with friends to celebrate my special day when I noticed my father was not around the house, so I called to see where he was. Of course he did not answer, and I continued to enjoy all of my friends’ company. We decided to go play flag football and stayed doing that for hours. I then decided I wanted to go to the movies to top off my wonderful day. My mom picked us up from the theater and that’s when my day really got interesting.

We had only been home for about fifteen minutes when my friend Miles shouted, “ Guys, look at what Mr. Travis brought home!” I turned around and was dumbfounded by what I saw. My dad had my dream car, a 1978 Ford Bronco Custom on his trailer, but not in the condition I always imagined it to be. The truck was in serious need of a paint job and it looked like it had been sitting for a while. I was excited because my very first truck was sitting in my driveway but I was also a little let down by the condition it was in. Through the disappointment, I thanked my dad and told him I loved him. I guess my dad sensed the frustration and told me, “ Connor, we are gonna work on the truck. I’m not gonna let you drive something you will be embarrassed in.”. When he told me that I felt a little better about the situation.

The following morning, my dad woke me and told me we were taking my truck to the shop to have some body work done and a paint job. I wasn’t too excited to go all the way out to Lovejoy to take it there but I had to show my dad I truly did appreciate what he was doing from me. When we got there, my dad’s friend, Tom, told us that he should have it out of the shop in two weeks and for us to call him later that week to tell him what color we wanted the truck to be. Right when I got home I began looking at Broncos to see what color would look the best. I decided I wanted the truck black along with the top also being black. The truck ended up having a lot more issues so we didn’t get it back for another two months, but when we did, boy did it look good. The paint job was superb and the truck instantly got compliments everywhere we stopped on the way home.

My dad’s surprises still were not finished, the following week a lift kit came in the mail. The excitement was indescribable. My dad and me put the kit on ourselves because he wanted me to learn a few things about my truck and know how to work on it if I were to ever break down. We spent about two weeks of hard work until we were finally finished. Once we had the lift kit on we put new wheels and tires on my truck. There was only a few minor accessories left to purchase and once we got them the truck was ready to go. It was incredible how far the Bronco had come from the junkyard car that was in my driveway on my birthday to the beautiful truck that I am the proud and loving owner of today.