Taking the Lead: Lifetime Love Affair

by Kathy Cook

Al and I fell in love just after high school. But I was not Al’s first love. He had already fallen in love with MGs. In 1972, during our senior year in college, Al picked up a disassembled MGTD. He and I both went to law school and during the summers Al repaired, rebuilt, and sold a Model A truck and an MGA to help finance our way through school. He had little time left to spend on his own love, the TD. And when he did finally put it back together, he felt he had to sell it.

Al and I went into the military, and we were stationed overseas. Upon our return we had children, busy careers, and little time to spend on hobbies.

But Al still loved those MGTDs. One day he came across one that had been restored and talked me into buying it. I knew I could not stand in the way of his first love. Now he had a car that he had loved all his life, and he could finally drive it!

Al and I joined the Classic MG Club of Orlando. We have been to many car shows, have driven all over Florida, and we’ve enjoyed the TD and the fellowship of fellow MG owners. In honor of our first grandchild, whose initials are MG, we bought an MGB GT for my car. More recently, we moved to the west coast of Florida and joined the Florida Suncoast MG Car Club. The cars and their owners have become an important part of our lives.

My loving husband of over 50 years developed NPH, a type of hydrocephalus, which robbed him of many of his abilities. As a result, Al is now residing at Twin Creeks Assisted Living Facility where he can get extra help. He still loves his MG and has pictures and signs and a miniature MG in his studio apartment.

The Florida Suncoast MG Car Club has been incredibly supportive of our family. They suggested that I arrange for a mini car show with the cars from our club. The club has done this before at another assisted living facility during last year’s MG Jamboree. I made the arrangements with Twin Creeks and chose the theme: “We Love Our MGs,” just in time for Valentine’s Day. We brought heart-shaped doughnuts for everyone, and the residents voted for their favorite car. The lobby was a-buzz with activity. In fact, I have never seen so much enthusiasm as I did that day as residents talked about their old cars, including MGs. People who usually rarely spoke, had much to say that day. Maybe it was the lobbying, or maybe it was the magic of seeing their friend with his car, but Al ended up taking first prize. Al was a celebrity that day as the owner of his MGTD.

What I have learned from spending time at the assisted living facility is that residents, even those with memory issues, remember a lot of their past, and cars are an important conduit to these memories.

Assisted living facilities welcome opportunities like our mini car show. It is an easy activity to organize, and it really helps people relive good times from their past. And for an added bit of excitement, if the facility allows it, perhaps the more mobile residents can also go for a short ride in the passenger seat. We love our MGs and enjoy sharing the experience with others. They are definitely a love affair that lasts a lifetime.