Jeeps, Clubs and Rubber Ducks!

Even as I’ve aged to half of a century, one thing remains with my heart and soul. I still want to belong. I still want purpose and I still want to make a difference.

At the end of 2020, my wife and I bought her dream car, a 2021 Jeep Wrangler. Within hours of posting our new purchase online, two different Jeep clubs in the surrounding Charlotte, NC Metro found us on Facebook and invited us to join.

We did.

In 1988, when I could barely rub two nickels together, not because of my lack of finger dexterity, but due to being income challenged as I chased the radio dream, I bought my first car, a Ford Festiva. One time, another Festiva was driving next to me, and while we smiled due to the commonality, there was an air of embarrassment as well, as we were probably both flooring it, and not getting anywhere too quickly in our undersized 4-cylinder vessel.

Horse Racing

Later when I owned a Mustang, and no, I had no allegiance to Fords, another Mustang would pull to my side and would rev their engine calling me out to race. I loved that my car was fast but wasn’t confident enough to see who would reign supreme. I take testosterone boosters now, so if I still had that ‘Stang, maybe now I’d have the guts to go toe-to-toe.

They call it the Jeep wave, and it doesn’t take too long to be in the driver’s seat, to witness the sense of friendliness and belonging when another Jeep crosses your path. So many people saying hey with their hands that I am beginning to feel like this must have been how it felt to be in the popular group in high school.

We can wave back without the embarrassment of the Festiva, and without the machismo of the Mustang, but with a calm, confident, pride-felt two finger salute, and just like that, we are welcomed, included and a part of something quite unique.

But it didn’t stop there. One morning after leaving the local diner, we got to our Jeep to find a plastic duck on our door, yes this is a thing, look up #duckduckjeep. So, we jumped in with both feet, bought a hundred ducks from Amazon and began spreading the love, finding that Ernie from Sesame Street was right, and ‘Rubber Ducky, you are the One!’

Mother Duckers

From Easter to Mother’s Day to Memorial Day to Father’s Day to the first day of Spring, Summer, to basketball, football and baseball, my creative wife began adding a specific touch to the process, and you’d think her efforts were so ‘inside baseball,’ that those

who owned any other vehicle would be blind to her attempt to make the world smile, but instead, social media would amplify the process and not since The Lion King have I seen, firsthand, such a circle of life.

Listeners of my wife’s radio station have posted on Facebook that because she made owning a Jeep look so fun that they’ve become Jeep owners. We know of nine families who now own Jeeps, influenced directly by Sarah Lee’s passion.

But then there’s this other thing, the Jeep Clubs, which band together in the Charlotte communities to raise funds to battle cancers and other illnesses, to make a birthday special for a young girl who may not have the luxury of many more, or to honor a fallen officer, their legacies, families, and communities.

Not one Jeep owner that we’ve met in these clubs has ever mentioned the miles they’ve put on their Jeep in serving their fellow man, but they are quick to share their tops off, doors off or the latest contraption they’ve added to their vehicle, like a shark mouth on the front of their grill and showing us how we can find add-ons that fit our personality at ExtremeTerrain.com

Girl, I’m Just a Jeepster For Your Love

I got into radio because I was seeking heart, a place where I could belong, where people cared about each other – and others who weren’t like us. I got into radio to have fun, to feel free and confident and love life. Little did I know, I didn’t need radio for all of that.

I just needed a Jeep.