Who Says Women Can't!?

My dad Kurt-O was blessed with four daughters to love and raise. This in itself shows God's humor. Because you see, my father grew up building cars, constructing engines, etc. I mean how could he not? His dad was the one who built a homemade helicopter and his grandpa built one of the first lawnmowers in Indiana! He had in his genes to be an automotive man. My dad was the coolest kid on the block. When he was five, his bicycle was the only one with a steering wheel instead of handlebars! Beat that, Joe Smith! He helped his dad build motorcycle engines as was his profession. My dad drove a motorcycle as his ride on the first day he got his license. (Ask him about being pulled over by an officer for not looking old enough to have a license..on his first day!) He has owned a plethura of cars of the years: Fiat, a couple Jaguars, a Scirocco (only 600 ever made). We girls always ask in disbelief, "Why did you sell the Jags!!!?" He answers as only the best dad in the whole world could answer, "Well, I had to choose between a family or cars. I chose a family." So with starting this new family, I'm sure my dad had visions of having a couple sons, at least one to pass on the family name and the car knowledge....but instead God chuckled and said, "Girl." "Girl." "Girl." and "Girl." Now if you ask him, he says he wouldn't have it any other way---yet I can't help but notice how happy he was to talk to Phil about his Jeep when he was having problems; or better yet, how excited he got when Scott told him he owned Slot Cars. It was like watching a kid open their favorite toy at Christmas. His eyes lit up and he began talking faster with a higher pitch in his voice. :) Slowly, my dad is gaining the sons he never had. But let's back up and talk about what a man is supposed to do when he has so much car knowledge to impart, but no son to impart it to. He does the next logical thing: pass it to the daughters!! Brilliant! While we were growing up, Dad was always sure to name every car in every movie made prior to 1975: brand, model, year, special accessories, etc. I mean, this guy knows his stuff! Dad and I used to play the headlight game---name the oncoming car by the headlights--I got pretty good at it. Every year he and my grandpa go to a car show in Auburn, IN and Cindy has gone with them the past couple years. His love of motorcycles has been passed down: Cindy has her motorcycle license and I'm hoping to get my permit this coming summer. He's taught each of us , the obvious: how to check the oil, two or three of us how to change the oil, how to change tires on our cars. So you see, my dad has done a nice job of infiltrating us to some degree. There are two of us daughters who have really taken an interest in cars: Cindy and I. The other two--well they care, but there are more important things than gaskets, cylinders and pistons. So now the object of my narrative:

Down here in Tennessee, I drive quite often. Indeed, I drive my car almost everyday. I'm about to make my 400+ mile journey home to IN, but my oil needed to be changed first. I'm always a promotor of "If you can do it yourself, do it." Right? Right.. first step: go buy a filter, 4 qts of oil, oil wrench (because I couldn't find one to borrow). 2nd step: find an oil pan to borrow (got it!). 3rd step: find a place to change the oil. See that step was a little trickier than the rest. I don't have jack stands or blocks--and couldn't find those anywhere around here. My genius friend CT decided to make use of the small ditch bordering the outside of the parking lot. I pulled my car up to the ditch, balancing one side on the pinnacle of the cement ditch and the other side in the grass. This worked out very nicely. So there I am in the middle of campus crawled underneath my car, unscrewing the oil bolt. I'm not gonna lie, a few males walked by and stopped and stared...in awe. Out comes the oil---down with the filter---in with new--dump in 4 quarts and buddy we're back in business. Approximate time: 20 minutes; which might I add was pretty good for me being my first time by myself and only watching my dad once. As I arose from underneath the car, I hear a male voice saying, "I'm impressed." So Dad---Thanks for teaching me how to prove to those unbelieving males out there: who says women can't!?