Most of the time the ones we love deeply are a product of chance. We are born into families by no will of our own and make deep seeded bonds naturally through the vast amount of time we spend together and care we give.
Other lifetime loves come by choice. A moment in time, an instant connection, or just a glance produces that butterfly stir year after year…finding the other half, the ying to our yang.
Choosing to love someone or something long-term takes grit and passion. Life doesn’t hand you endless roses, thorns are part of the journey.
Knowing they love you brings strength you didn’t know you had. Fondness of the little things that make your love special, just to the two of you and no one else, play over and over in your mind, seeming like a video in an endless loop.
You get through the briar patches with the grit and celebrate the passion with a shower of roses, like a Pasadena parade in January.
Loving by chance AND choice is the type of love that Gail Wise had/has for her 1964 1/2 Mustang. She fell in love at Johnson Ford in Chicago on an April day in 1964. She held onto the love as life changed around her and circumstance begged her sell. Her husband Tom was the motivator and wanted to keep it for a project when he retired. Loving both he and the car, she ran the race, stayed the course, kept the car.
Just like we can’t imagine life without those we love, we’re so glad Gail and Tom felt the same way about one Skylight Blue Mustang. It’s part of their family and now part of ours.
Validated by the original bill-of-sale, notarized new car invoice, and the registered owner’s manual, Ford seconds the motion that this was the first Mustang sold retail in the United States on April 15th just two days before the opening of the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing, NY on April 17, 1964.
It was my honor to meet Gail and Tom in the Ford Clubhouse at the Woodward Dream Cruise in Royal Oak, MI this past August. Chatting with Gail and Tom was like sitting down with a favorite aunt and uncle. Gail and I have many years of teaching in common and the camaraderie I felt with her was instant. Spending fifty plus years between us around children gave us people skills that made for engaging conversation and endearing, heartfelt enthusiasm for the other’s success.
One of the lucky ones, I was gifted a signed information card by Gail and Tom about the Mustang drawn from a well-loved tote bag under the arm of Gail. See below.
I felt privileged to receive it from her personally, she is not the mass-mailer type. She wasn’t just giving them out willy-nilly. I felt special.
After a lunch break we reunited for a photo shoot with none other than that 1964 1/2 Skylight Blue convertible with Medium Blue interior and top. As you now know, because of Gail’s info card, it was restored in 2006-2007 but not modified.
A gorgeous original…enjoy the photos below:
Photos taken and friendships made, we parted ways for just a little while. Later, we all chose to watch the Dream Cruise from the eagle’s nest viewing area provided by Ford.
As we sat in the viewing area, I wondered what was going through Gail’s mind.
Her true love next to her and the car they love a hundred feet away…
Perfect examples of love that have endured…
P.S. Stay tuned for information about a special project that Gail and I will be bringing your way…I’m very excited about us working together!
julesonwheelz
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