This thanksgiving was the first major holiday that my wife Ashley and I spent together. So, we made plans to go up to Tahoe with her family to celebrate the day, but before we made the drive up, I had a surprise in store for her first.
One thing I truly admire about my wife is that she is humble as well as grateful for everything she has. For the past seven years, she has driven the same Honda and has treated it like a baby. However, she definitely needed a new car. So, we had gone to some dealerships and talked about different kinds of cars to get, but we never made any moves and the conversation about it just seemed to stop.
Even though she didn’t think we were going to get her a new car before our trip up to Tahoe for thanksgiving (even though we already sold her old car), I had something else up my sleeve. I had bought her a new Cadillac SUV, and had the guys at the shop get it all ready for her. I knew that I didn’t want to drive my sports car up to Tahoe, and knew Ashley definitely didn’t want to either. So, when I went to pick her up at my parents’ house after a long day at work, I had the guys from the shop bring the Cadillac to my house and hide it in the garage.
When we got home and Ashley saw what I had done for her, she was beyond excited. I think at first she was so shocked that she couldn’t wrap her head around it! Ashley is the type of girl that is happy with the little things in life, and doesn’t need all the fancy name brand things, so for her, this was a big deal! Seeing her so happy was the best present of all, because I knew that there was no one else who deserved this more than her.
Throughout my recovery, I have learned how important gratitude is. During my period of addiction, I was very selfish and the last thing on my mind was being grateful. I had to work through my demons to become grateful for all my blessings, and seeing someone like Ashley who is so naturally grateful is truly refreshing.
So, we made our way up to Tahoe in the new SUV, and ended up having a great time. Even though the lack of snow up in the mountains prevented us from going dogsledding like I wanted to, we were just as happy to veg out, hang with our family, share some great meals and make lots of memories!
