The key to my heart is a Mustang key.

If you read my bio on the home page of my website, you may remember it said I love Ford Mustangs. I have to admit my love affair with this legendary vehicle started when I was still in elementary school. I hadn't even started school when the first Mustang rolled off the assembly line in Dearborn, Michigan. One of my uncles had a Mustang. He worked at the same place my dad worked but lived next door to my grandmother in a town about twenty-five miles away. Often on Fridays my mom would take me to the factory, and I would ride to my grandmother's house in my uncle's late 60's Mustang. I can still remember how "cool" I felt in the backseat of that car.

I was an only child for eight years until my little sister joined our family. Most of my early childhood was spent with two of my boy cousins. Only ten months separate the older boy and me. We spent a lot of time playing cowboys and Indians, Batman, playing football and baseball in Grandma's yard, and playing with trucks and cars. I remember going to TG&Y to pick out my cousin a birthday present. When I spotted the red die-cast Ford Mustang sitting on the store shelf, I knew I had found the perfect gift. I felt like I had won the lottery when my mom agreed to buy me one too.

As all teenagers do, I begged my dad for a car. He said I didn't need one. I learned to drive in my parents' 1969 Ford Ranch Wagon. It was not a cool car, especially when I had to sit on a boat cushion to see over the steering wheel. I was thrilled when my dad told me he was going to buy me a car during my last semester of high school. He gave me the option of a Ford Maverick, a Ford Pinto, or a Ford Mustang. I can't imagine who would have ever chosen a Maverick or Pinto over a Mustang, but it wasn't me. He ordered my '77 Mustang II with all the options he thought I needed. This included an eight-track tape player and a driver's seat that raised up. No more boat cushions for me! It took a few months for the car to arrive. We went to the dealership on a rainy Saturday morning to get the car. The car was parked in a large, dimly lit garage. The rained stopped and the sun broke through the clouds. Sunbeams made their way through the grates of the shop fan and illuminated my new car. It was like a scene from a movie.

That's pretty much how the love story started. As the years rolled by, I continued to notice and admire older Mustangs whenever I saw one. When we moved to Benton in 1987, it seemed like everywhere I went I saw an elderly couple driving around in a silver blue '66 Mustang. I would see them driving down the main road or I'd see the car parked outside the post office or the grocery store. That's when I started imagining a story. Maybe this car had been their son's pride and joy. Maybe something had happened to their son. Maybe he had been drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War. Maybe this car was all they had left of him.

I don't want to give too much information away about my book. But I guess it's obvious that a Mustang is one of the central "characters" in it. Besides Mustangs I also love sports, especially baseball. Baseball is also an important part of the story I've written. After all, I did fall in love with and marry a baseball player.

Remember to be kind, enjoy life, and tell the Lord thanks for another day.