Wiper blades that twitch??

 Mark had a variety of cars at his disposal.  I mistakenly thought his family was rich.  They had a camp in the Adirondacks (that’s a story for another day); they grew up with a camp on the St. Lawrence River and they owned a house in Cicero.  The house in Cicero, Mark told me, stored their 4-wheelers and snowmobiles (one for every member of their family).  Our family had a small 3-bedroom house with one bathroom that slept 9 people.  We had one car, a blue Chevy Impala that everyone shared. So when Mark told me he had two Dodge Challengers, a neon green one and a black one, I was impressed that I found a guy with money!  Both of those cars had metallic wide two-inch stripes going down the sides of the car, installed, of course, by Mark himself because he was evidently pretty crafty.  (ha ha ha)  Early on, during one of our first few dates, he drove his brother Gary’s Opal GT.  It was a tiny silver car with two seats.  I don’t even remember where we went or what we did that day, but I do remember it was raining.  It was one of those fine mist rains that involve turning on the wipers often.  (This was WAYYY before intermittent wiper blades were invented!)  As we were driving along, I noticed the windshield wipers every once in a while would just go across the window with no rhyme or reason, and no movement from Mark to turn them on.  I said “hey, how do those wipers do that?”  And Mark said, “there is a sensor on the windshield that can tell when there is rain on it.  When enough moisture touches the window, the wipers will go across.”  “WOW!!  That’s pretty fancy,” I exclaimed.  I talked and talked about how cool that was and couldn’t wait to tell my dad who knows everything!  How adorable was Mark for chuckling and laughing at my amazement of this technology.  It made me just like him more and more that he thought I was so cute and animated.  Scratch that.  Can you say “gullible?” I found out many months later that the wipers were operated by a foot button down on the floor!  All along Mark was the one operating the wipers.  He had discovered that his girlfriend would believe anything he said and, oh my goodness, that just opened up an entire chapter to the book… entitled “Don’t believe everything Mark Searle tells you.”    Just before Mark passed away, he came down the hallway and said “remember the Opal GT story with the sensor windshield?  (then proceeded to repeat exactly what happened again with a laugh right from his toes).  Well, they actually make that now.  I wish I patented that!”  Maybe some day I will own a car that reminds me of Mark every time it rains.  (On a side note, for years, I think of Mark every time I get caught in the rain.  Instead of complaining about the soaking wet feeling that happens when your jeans get pelted with water, I cherish the gift of nerves and muscles that work and can feel those things.  I love that my feet hit the ground as I run for cover as I thank God for these things that we somehow take for granted each day. )