She knows what's up

I've had many vehicles and have enjoyed them all. My favourite? That's a difficult one as I've had some pretty nice vehicles (motor bikes included) but I'll say my 1982 Ford F100 pickup - I loved that truck! So yeah, vehicles have been a big part of my life and I've cared for them with great diligence.

I've handled the maintenance (organising it and doing it) aspect and cleaning of all of my vehicles with only passive and minimal assistance from my partner; she's not interested in vehicles and, with the exception of my F100 as pictured and one of my Lexus's which she loved she hasn't been engaged with any of them. Fair enough, I get it. However, one thing she's always wanted to do was understand the processes around owning and maintaining vehicles and I respect that as being prepared for what may come, me not being alive for instance, before it happens is smart. With this in mind, she has taken an active role in the processes around taking vehicles to the workshop for service and arranging general maintenance and care which she did this week.

It's a small thing, but considering how pedantic I am with my/our vehicles it's a big step for me to pull back and have her take the lead. She's good at it though, I've prepared her well. She knows what to say on booking in, how to describe what we need doing or looked at, understands basic mechanical dialogues and what decisions to make when the workshop calls mid-service seeking permission to change something or to highlight issues. It's impressive really.

Traditionally mechanical workshops have taken advantage of people who may not have the right knowledge and understanding by changing (and charging) for things that don't need doing and women are seen as easy targets; it has happened to my partner back in the day when I was not able to be there to get it sorted which this is partly why we've worked to build her knowledge and understanding. Now...she knows what's up.

I'll be honest and say there's things I prefer to attend to myself and things she'd prefer I do as well, but for basic servicing and maintenance I feel confident that she'll get the job done and am pleased she's taken an interest.

We believe in self-reliance and preparation because we know well what can happen to the unprepared.

Above is one way we work towards being more prepared and there's many others. Either one of us could die or be incapacitated at any stage, you can too, and having a degree of preparation makes things easier for the one(s) left behind. This relates to one's estate, will, financial and business matters, end-of-life care, children, crypto-currency and every aspect of life and, of course, being prepared provides a better quality of life while we're still living it too.

What do you think? Feel free to comment if you're interested in doing so.