Going Going Gone

It is baseball season; America’s pastime, the sport of summer.  Another sport of summer is going on a family vacation. The question is where we should go for vacation and how we should get there. We could fly, but the prices for the season tickets are why too high! We could drive but our car is too run down to even get us to first base.  It is only good if you are making a short stop.

So we go out to the local car stadium to look around the horn for a safe car to buy for our road trip. We finally find one that lights up our sweet spot.  It is not a steal, but it looks like it will come through in the clutch. So we walk into the showroom to begin contract negotiations and nail down a final score.  After listening to the sales pitch, we show our ace in the hole; we have a car to trade.  That is when they bring in the closer who tells us our old car belongs in the minor league. Now that we have struck out and passed the trading deadline, we walk out to catch our breath and decide to go into extra innings with a reliever.  We finally break out of our slump, put on the squeeze play by splitting things right down the middle and emerge the winner.

Now that we have our first string car, we have to figure out what to do with the old timer. First we attempt to sell it to another team, but because the car is on the disabled list they walk. Then, we take it to the team doctor to see how to manage it into shape.  They tell us it will have to ride the bench because the clutch is jammed, and it needs new wheels, a new ball joint, and a triple valve job. We cannot catch a break.  Until, they tell us we will hit it out of the park if we donate car to charity.

The charity covers all the bases; from the opening pitch to the last out. They come to pick up the car for free.  The give us a letter with their autograph that entitles us to a tax deduction.  We feel as though we just hit a grand slam in the World Series when we donate car.  We hit a single because we get the car off the roster, a double because the proceeds from the sale of our car donation are used to help support the charity. We hit a triple because the charity will use the money for research or to help people or animals, who are injured, are sick, or need shelter or food.  It is a home run because we get a major league tax deduction.  

When we donate car, we become the most valuable player to a charity and those they help. It is a big relief and we do not even have to go through Spring training or worry about getting bumped by another player.