Perpetual Pie

...coming up on the holiday season I found myself needing to get rid of a serviceable but unused chevy van...it ran OK and all, and had under 100k miles,but it was almost 20 years old and getting uglier in my driveway.Now I HATE (and I mean all those caps) selling vehicles (or any other personal property too)-setting the price,fielding the calls,the ridiculous dickering.....Now over the years, it has been my habit to dispose of this type of thing through the old family hand-me-down manner,but after a week of phone calls the poor old beast was still sitting there,unwanted,unregistered and unloved.So I stopped at the local sports bar and checked among acquaintances and sure enough an old friend and general contractor from across the bridge in Maine named Al was using a similar age unit as his main jobsite transport and most the parts would be a direct bolt up to his as his parts failed.Rather than sell what had been a pretty good vehicle for me as scrap, I gave it to him for the cost of the tow ($50) and a draft beer.I went home happy that at least someone I knew and liked would benefit from our parting (the van and I).
Did I mention Al's wife Sherry??? A dynamite cook and swell lady who does some catering from her home?? Well Sherry is one of the best scratch bakers I've ever met,and along with her baking skills she also makes and cans her own mincemeat....and I and my 75 year old Mom both love mincemeat pies.Well, about three nights after the van left I ran into Sherry at the bar and placed my annual order for 1 mince pie ($9 this,year I believe).She told me that she had fallen in love with my old van (conversion camper...A/C front and rear, overhead console, captain seats,cruise control,etc) and that she and Al would clean the old girl up and bring her back to the road next year as their Sunday-go to meeting vehicle....and oh yeah-as a thank you my Mom will get one free mince pie at Thanksgiving as long as she lives.
The upshot is this,Just as I threatened my Mom is threatening to live WELL past a 100 or at least as long as Sherry.And I believe she'll try-the pie was THAT good!!!

powerful persuader

I have a jar of mincemeat around here. I'll make a pie. Thanks for making me think of it. :bounce:

and would give my hat and front seat in hell for some homemade mincemeat. I always make do with the the kind in a jar and if you add a few interesting things to it, it's not bad at all.

Loved your story. Reminds me of the time my brother "sold" his old van for a bag of pot, which we enjoyed for quite a while.