Daddy CREEEEEE!!!!!

LadyTee and I don't argue much, but when we do, it's over the same thing each and every time:

DADDY CRE, and whose father he is.

"Daddy Cre is my Daddy," Ladytee hollers.
"Nawl, LadyTee... that's MY Daddy!"
"That's my damn Daddy!!" She steps up on me like she gonna hit me.
"Hell nawl, I said that's MY Daddy!!"

I bust her in the eye with my fist. She falls to the ground. Conversation OVER.

(Why am I so violent? LOL)

No, "Daddy Cre" is not either one of our Daddys. LadyTee and I don't have relationships with our respective fathers, but we have claimed my friend and work cubicle mate Cowgirl Cre's Daddy as OUR Daddy.

No, he's not our Daddy. He's our friendly neighborhood auto mechanic.

And whenever our cars break down, we end up calling him, our eyes full of tears, crying...

"Daddy Cre...(hard gulp of air)... Daddy Cre (hard sniff, hand to face wiping away crocodile tears)... Daddy Cre, my car messed up on me!!!"

He is always quiet for a moment. I've always thought he was thinking "I'm sitting here trying to enjoy my retirement. Why the heck are ya'll bothering me?"

But he always comes back with a "Well alright now, tell me what happened" or "Can you get the car over here so I can have a look at it?"

*LadyLee and/or Ladytee's tears drying up because they realize there is... hope*

LadyTee drives an Old Buick, and refuses to go anywhere but to Daddy Cre for help. If she can't catch up with him, she is quick to call Cowgirl Cre or myself up at our job and scream...

"Where is our Daddy! I need to talk to our Daddy!"

I was muttering that to myself this past Saturday...

My car had been making a weird ringing noise for about 2 weeks. Sounded like someone is jingling a bunch of bells or something. Heck, it was driving just fine, so I kept rolling. But last Thursday, it started skipping, sounding like The DJ Diva herself was trying to do some type of new hip-hop transformer scratches on her turntables. I thought a belt was loose, and was about to pop.

I've been working a lot, and I don't really drive during the week. So Saturday, I called MY Daddy, Daddy Cre, and wailed hard about it...

"Felicia, brang the car on over, so I can have a look at it."

(Note: He calls me Felicia, and has called me that for years. Heck, I roll with it, and it rhymes with my name so that's good enough for me. I'm just happy to get my car fixed.)

So, my "zoom-zoom" was jacked up in his driveway on Saturday.

Now, while he was outside jacking up my car, I went inside and hung out with Cowgirl Cre's Mama, "Mama Cre". She's usually relaxing on the sofa and watching a little television. I sat with her for a little while and watched some bizarre movie on Lifetime (Television for Women!) about some chick who would take razors and cut herself (eww! gruesome!). We shoot the breeze and what not. I have even been know to take a nap or eat dinner. This time, we shared cookies and watched the movie.

Now, I like Mama Cre. I look forward to sitting back and talking with her just as much as I look forward to getting my car fixed. She is very quiet like myself, but she has warmed up to me, and she is one hell of a talker.

Daddy Cre is crazy about Mama Cre. I knew this when, one day last year, I was walking past Daddy Cre's rimmed up New Yorker and saw the vanity plate on the front.

Now if that ain't love, I don't know what is. But Mama Cre don't look too happy there. I've been meaning to ask her about that picture. As you can see by his winning smile, and the slight tilt of his cap... Daddy Cre is very proud of it!!

Anyway, Daddy Cre figured out part of the problem: a screw had come loose from somewhere inside my engine and was floating around in one of the rotating parts, making a crazy pinging sound. He showed me the chewed-up screw. He was quite concerned and scratched his head. He needed to figure out where that screw came from.

Oh my!

Daddy Cre needed to keep my car until Sunday. I told him that he could keep it all week as far as I was concerned, as I am chaufeurred by my personal chauffeur carpool to and from work every day.

I needed to know if I need a new engine or if everything is fine. That there was my major concern. ~sigh~

But, all is well. Now, one of the great things that Daddy Cre does is bring your car TO you when he finishes any repairs. So he deliverred my car to me on Monday afternoon. He put everything together and my beloved "zoom-zoom" purs like a cat. He said he had to run around to the junkyard for some parts, but he figured it all out.

And this Oldgirl is very happy about THAT!! GLORY!!

Daddy Cre is one of those Daddys that don't let you get away too fast without a long lecture or gentle chastisement... I have been lectured several times per year over the past seven or eight years.

First, he wanted to get the point across that when there is something going wrong with my Zoom-zoom (Mazda), I need to bring it by immediately. I always respond, "Yes sir, you are right". He knows I have a tendency to wait until I can't roll any longer, right up until I almost have to push my car over to his house, LOL.

I always ask him how much he is charging me for the work... This brings about another Loooonnnng lecture.

I have to sit and hear how I am Cowgirl's Cre friend, and how he is fair and won't charge me much. (As a result, I always get the good 15 dollar brake jobs). And then he gives me a LOOOONNNG sermon on how good it is to be a blessing to someone. He will never help me, and then want something in return. God has blessed him so he could bless someone else. It's just a blessing to be able to figure out what is wrong with my car. I just need to make sure to take the time to bless someone else. He feels that I've already been a blessing by being his daughter's friend.

Bless, bless, bless, blesssss, bless, blesssssss...

The blessing sermon goes on for a good 5 to 10 minutes. Sometimes he points in different directions to make his point. He has walked away at times, to go do something, then comes back and picks up right where he left off.

The only thing I do during the long lectures is utter "Yes Sir" and "No Sir, "I understand Sir", "That's right, Sir" a gazillion times. When the lecture is over, he sends me on my way.

But I ain't mad. I need to hear this ever so often, more often than not, as it does encourage me to be a blessing to others, even if it is in the small way. He encourages me to always be thinking along those lines in my dealings with people.

So thank you Daddy Cre...

You always keep my "Zoom-Zoom riding nice" for just the right price!!

And always give me the much needed good lessons on the being a blessing:)