Well that Sunday began fairly normal. With me telling a little white lie to get the Marine out of the house. I decided that he needed to help me buy new shoes at Bass Pro Shops. Now that sounds kinda weird, but it worked and off we drove. After making the all important purchase. I think we bought something. We headed back west toward the shop and a call was made to Chuck to make sure he was going to be at the shop to insure that Brian could get his truck back. After all it was supposed to be done last Thursday. He said that he was running late. So I promply let him have it. Names and words that can't be displayed in such a public forum were used to describe Chuck and his shop.
Arriving at the shop was uneventful and Brian headed in to pay his bill and get his beloved truck back. Once inside Chuck laid the big sales job on him and went through the entire catalog and decsribed each of the parts at length. In detail chuck explained how each upgrade would make his truck run that much better. At the end of it all Chuck lead Brian out to the front of the shop to return his "stock" truck to him. About half way out Chuck turned to Brian and said" Several companies in the area decided to thank you for your service to our country and provided enough support to put each of the parts that we just talked about on your truck, Thank you" . Just as he finished, the overhead door was raised and Project Brian was revealed to a speechless young Marine. While Brian was overwhelmed with the truck, 70-80 of his friends and family snuck up behind him and started clapping hands. To say that we was floored is to say that an aligator is a lizard. The truck was fired up and once again Chuck took out all of his frustrations on the rear tires of Project Brian. Now Brian had never been able to actualy spin the tires on dry pavement before the transformation was completed. It was everything he could do to stay on his feet. Infact he had to use the building to help him stay upright. Chuck slid out of the truck, beaming like a proud pappa as the smoke cleared and the tires returned to a normal tempurature.
Chipoltle Burritos were passed around and photos of most were taken to record the day.
As the afternoon drew to a close we all realized what it really means to be an American and the sacrafices that are made to keep this country free. God Bless everyone that helped make this return home as memorable as it could possibly be.
