My Grief Recovery Started With A Car
My grief recovery started out with an 83 Mustang GT with a 351, all set up to drag race. Returning to my love of cars and racing marked the beginning of my rebirth after the colossal loss of my parents and the end of a bad relationship.
The Car Brought Me Back To Life
She was beautifully restored and with the engine upgrade. She was also a little snotty. I named her “Foxy” as a play on her foxbody chassis style. Before taking her to the track, I took her to a local cruise night – a place where car enthusiasts came together to admire each other’s work and just talk cars.
Grief Recovery Had Been Slow
I had tentatively started to consider how to get back into the world. What did I want to do next? Ending a relationship and losing parents set me adrift. On the whiteboard in my office I listed my strengths and brainstormed all the possible avenues I could follow. I had worked with at risk individuals, empowering them on their own paths. Now I was doing this for myself. I wasn’t at all sure how my future of helping others would manifest; I just set it in motion.
Cruise Night Presented A New Opportunity
At the cruise night with Foxy all buffed up and shiny, I met two guys who had brought a brand-new Mustang to the party. We became fast friends as we chatted excitedly about our rides. They were intrigued by this girl who loved cars and drag racing. The conversation turned to occupations, and when they asked what I did for a living … I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t really doing anything but living.
After All I Am An Educator
I managed to mention that I was on a new path as an educator who loved working with the at-risk population. Breaking into grins, my new friends asked if I had ever considered teaching in a prison. Actually, no … I didn’t even know that was a possibility! As it turned out, they were correctional officers who had both just retired from a local correctional facility. They gave me the directions, names of contacts and instructed me to show up with my resume in hand. They even let me use their names as references! And so it began, go figure. In the middle of loving cars, I found an unexpected path.
The Car Launched Recovery
The picture that they took of me and Foxy at the cruise night would become my profile picture when I started online dating. It would be the picture that my boyfriend saw and recognized as a girl he met years before at a racing banquet. His opening line would be, “Let’s meet again.”
And just to think, it all started with a car. Where are you going to start?
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