Bugatti Brain (Or Why I Think Wayne Carini Needs James as an Apprentice)

A few weeks ago, on a perfectly beautiful Fall day, we went to a car show on the Boston Common called The Boston Cup Classic Car Show. You can check out photos of the cars at thebostoncup.com.

James didn't know what to expect, except that his favorite car would be there, and he couldn't handle the anticipation. All the waiting  - driving in, circling the Financial District for 1/2 hour looking for a spot, walking over to the Common. By the time we got to the show, he was out of sorts.

All the cars were lined up in a circle so we started walking around, stopping to check out every car, each more impressive than the last. There were at least 150 of the most gorgeous cars I'd ever seen. All side by side, encircling the historic gazebo in the Boston Common. It was incredible.

James kept tugging us to go faster, faster. "Don't stop! We need to keep going faster!" We tried to explain that we had all day, there was no rush. We tried to force him to stop and actually look for more than a second at each car.

And then it hit me. I know what he was doing. Before he could take the time to appreciate each car, he needed to catalog every car there in his head. He NEEDED to go through quickly and make sure he had the entire inventory catalogued before he could relax.

So we just went. We went FAST. We racewalked around the entire circle, barely pausing long enough for me to figure out what each car was before getting tugged ahead. Tony and I took turns rushing with him so Johnny wouldn't end up losing it himself. And then as Tony and James raced ahead, I heard a guy next to me say to his friend "Hey- did you see that little kid in the green Lamborghini t-shirt? That's the same kid we saw at the Larz Anderson Italian car show who..." and then, UGH!  That was it - someone walked in between us and I never got to hear the rest of that thought.  I'm very, very sure it was about how great a kid he is...

When we finally got back to the first car, James was suddenly, completely calm. He was able to walk around and tell Johnny when to take photos. He started comparing the cars, ranking his favorites. here are just a few of the many incredible cars we saw:

He willingly took a break for Johnny to go on the merry go round and play in the playground. James pronounced the Boston Common his favorite park ever, and the burger place we ate at the best hamburger ever.

Then we went back again, because we hadn't gotten a photo of his favorite car there. We raced halfway around the circle again, and waited for all the people to move out of the way while James repeatedly asked me why we weren't allowed inside the circle like those standing in his way (Clearly the VIP treatment he got from Herb Chambers may have jaded him a little...)

And finally we got THE photo. The car he ranked highest on the list of all the cars he saw that day.

And when I picked him up from school Monday, he was excitedly telling his teacher all about it. "Mom! Where's your phone! Where is the picture? Of the car? The one Mr. R needs to see - the best one!" He started grabbing my phone out of my hands and frantically looking for the photo. Then he found it and held it up for Mr. R.

Mr. R was really impressed. "Wow!" That's a Bugatti?" he asked, pointing to the picture. "It's beautiful!"


Just look past the 1948 Delahaye...

"No, THAT's not it!" corrected James "It's the one in the back! THAT'S the Bugatti. The rarest, fanciest car in the world!"

James' prized Bugatti

Note: James and I watch "Chasing Classic Cars" together, and his favorite episode is when Wayne Carini finds a Bugatti that looks similar to this one sitting in a barn in New York, and he completely restores it to its original beauty and glamour. Tomorrow morning, we are going to a Cars and Coffee event at Mr. Carini's F40 Motorsports. and all proceeds from the event go to Autism Speaks. I'm psyched to go and support Autism Speaks, but I'm really just hoping that I get to hear James and Wayne Carini talk about Bugattis...

Get Your Signs Right Dad...

Just in case you think we will ever get away with anything in this house...

Tony was looking at the new issue of Rolling Stone the other day, and he turned it around for James to see from across the room.



I could hear them talking about the picture. "Dad. That is a lot of tattoos. Do they come off when he takes a bath? They don't come off? At all? Ever? Even after a few weeks?" 
Humored, I kept cleaning. James went back to playing on the iPad.

Then Tony held it up again and pointed towards Ross' left arm. "Hey James, look, do you think he likes the Red Sox?"

James glanced up for 2 seconds and went back to the iPad. Matter-of factly he said  "Dad, that isn't a Red Sox sign. It's a Bentley sign".

Close up. I still don't know how he does it. The kid is good.



Moment of Truth Monday - Schooled again

We had a big party at the family cottage over the weekend, filled with lots of live music and visits from friends we haven't seen in ages. We had a fantastic weekend, but there was one specific moment that we all agree is our favorite.

At one point during the day, Tony and a few of our friends went for a walk around the neighborhood where they saw a really nice car. None of them had never seen anything like it before, so they stopped the driver to ask what it was, and they asked if he wouldn't mind driving it by the house so James could see it.

They knew James would want to learn what the rare car was.

A few minutes later, the car rolled slowly into view. We all stopped what we were doing to admire it as it approached.

But before any of us could even start to get the question "What IS that?" out of our mouths, James came running out the front door yelling "Mom! Dad! What is a Packard doing at our house?"

Youk

Recently, James and Tony got the chance to meet one of our all time favorite Red Sox players, Kevin Youkilis.  But instead of talking baseball like most 9 year olds would do, James cut to the chase and got into what REALLY matters.

James: "Do you drive a fancy car?"
Youk: "I drive a Lexus."
James, very matter-of-factly:  "That's not very fancy."
Youk: "Does your Dad drive a fancy car?
James, even more matter-of-factly: "no"

Youk, thanks for all the great memories, and for being a good sport both on and off the field. We are going to miss you tons here in Boston. Oh, and James thinks you should drive a Ferrari.



James and Youk at Herb Chambers Cars and Coffee



The Surprise

I've been impatiently waiting since last night to be able to post this, kicking myself that I didn't bring my computer to the cottage, because I've been absolutely dying to share it.

Yesterday, Uncle Steve's amazingly generous friend drove his Lamborghini to our family cottage. Just to see James. We couldn't tell James beforehand. He would have been devastated if it didn't happen, and honestly, the anticipation would have been too much for him to handle.

As much as I knew he was going to love it, I didn't expect to be able to share the experience with family and friends who weren't there. I've been trying for months to convey James' love for cars, but I can't do it justice through my own words. It needs to come directly from him. And he is so nervous around cameras that it is difficult to capture his enthusiasm in a photo. He always looks strained and nervous when he looks towards the lens.

But when you watch this video, you'll understand. Completely.

We coaxed James to sit in it and took a ton of photos. He was too nervous to go for a ride, but was happy to watch his cousin and uncle go. He walked around the car hundreds of times, memorizing every detail, and talked to Steve's friend a mile a minute. They were talking in a language that many of us there were in awe of, but could not fully understand.

And then, well after all the photos were taken and Steve and his friend went for a drive to the beach, everyone moved on to play games and get ready for dinner.

That is, everyone except James.

Because for everyone else, it was a great afternoon with a super nice guy and a really, really cool car. But for James, it was something much, much more.

He Draws Us In

It all started when he got punched.

We were driving his friend Luca to the pool last summer and James was obsessing about traffic lights, as always, when Luca leaned over and punched him. "Punch buggy Red! No Punch backs!" he yelled.

James whined "Mom, Luca punched me!" Then immediately curious, he forgot all about the punch and asked "What's a Punch buggy?"

We explained the game, but he still didn't get it. Then all of a sudden he noticed the VW symbol on the car. "Mom! What's THAT?" he squealed, like he was seeing something incredible. I started to explain that each car company had a symbol, but before I could finish, he had noticed 4 other symbols and was asking me what they were in rapid fire succession.

He. Was. Hooked.

Within days, he knew each symbol and could identify cars before I could even make out whether they were sedans or hatchbacks. And the obsession grew as quickly as his expertise. He catalogued each car he saw, mentally keeping track of which ones were a dime a dozen (Priuses and Civics) or ones that he only saw a few times (Cubes and Corvettes).

Soon it was only "Fancy Cars" he wanted to find, although he still kept an internal list of every car he saw. I watched him scan the roads tirelessly, the same way I used to look on the side of the highway for bags of abandoned puppies I could rescue. I know. I have issues.

I wrote a blog post about his new love (click here if you want to read it), and within 5 minutes of hitting publish I received an email list of the 10 fanciest cars in the world from our friend Robbie. It made my day. James was overjoyed and kept a copy of it for reference (of course, he wouldn't bring it in the car because he was afraid someone would take it).

Then it snowballed.

His Uncle Steve started sharing pictures of a friend's Lambo and giving James books about muscle cars. His Aunt Heather regularly pins exotic cars to a special Pinterest board we made for him.

Tony's coworkers gave James both a Ferrari and Maserati hat. One of them has some connections she is going to tap into for James to see some fun cars, and a few actually have fancy cars and have made them accessible to James.

I posted on Facebook last month that I needed to find James a Bugatti and a DeLorean in Boston. Within minutes, Michelle posted a recent, local DeLorean sighting and Alysia sent me a link for Herb Chamber's Cars and Coffee (which just happened to be the upcoming weekend, and would feature his newly purchased Bugatti). James and Tony went on their first significant father/ son adventure together, and James still talks breathlessly about it more than a month later.

Herb Chambers' Bugatti - 1 of only 300 ever made.
James and Tony drove an hour at the crack of dawn to see it. TOTALLY worth it...

Cars are now entwined in everything that James is involved with, and they are actually helping him communicate. Everyone around us is now versed in "Fancy Cars". From our friend down the road who tagged a photo of a lambo he saw and "thought of James", to the friend across the street who talks to James about exotic cars daily and compares which ones are worthy, to the man we saw at an ice cream stand in CT with a 1960 Porsche when James made a beeline for his car and started asking a ton of questions (and since he was on a roll, he then went on to spend 20 minutes teaching his Uncle Mike everything he needed to know about Fancy Cars).

I love to ride with James and see him spot a Lotus on the other side of the Mass Pike when all I see is a streak of yellow, or hear him scream "LAMBORGHINI" from the playground as a black blur speeds down the road off in the distance. But I'm his mom and this is my life. I never expected everyone around us to rally around this obsession and I definitely never anticipated what the cars would do for his social skills and his confidence. James has always struggled so hard and so intensely to try to interact with other people. It has been heartbreaking and frustrating for me to watch him try to have a conversation by repeating the same questions over and over, so it is profoundly amazing to me that he is now actually creating specific connections with everyone around him. Purely by being himself and talking about what he loves.

He draws us in. It's in his nature. And as much as I am enjoying this obsession and am curious to see where it might take us, it makes me realize something much more significant. No matter what James' interest, he is going to be able to draw us all in.

And I know that we are all going to be happier for being part of whatever he uses to connect with us, and in doing so, being part of HIM.

Note: In fact, I have a handwritten note that I carry in my bag to the owner of the DeLorean, just in case I see it parked while I'm "casually" driving through his town center on the long way home from James' school, scanning, like James does, for a glimpse of silver. The note tells James' story, and asks if we can come visit his car so James can add it to his mental collection. I know he is going to love James' story and then fall in love with him. Just like we all have.

OH, one last very important note - the next Herb Chambers Cars and Coffee event is coming up June 9. James WILL absolutely be there. He just made us promise to take him. Click the link for details if you want to meet up with us and see the Bugatti!

Fancy Cars

"What's that car, Mom? Is it fancier than a Lamborghini? is it fancier than a Maserati? Is it fancier than a Ferrari? A Mustang? is it fancier than a DeLorean? Corvette? What's the other one? The one they have in California? Oh yeah, the Hummer stretch limo?"

The questions come furiously. Quickly. The same questions all the time. No matter how many times I answer them, they come back.

It's only 8:30 am. I've been in the car for 1/2 hour after a frenzy of trying to get them ready for school and out the door on time. I'm still tired.

There is barely any time for me to remember the answer I gave yesterday. I wrack my brain, trying to give myself some time to remember the visual list I have in my head of the order of Fancy Cars, but I can't. My brain doesn't work like that, and I am exhausted from trying.

His brain does.

He collects information and catalogs it. He remembers all my answers. ALL OF THEM. If I get them wrong he tells me.

I try to take a sip of my coffee at the red "What about that car? What is that? Have you ever seen that car before? Is it fancier than a Lamborghini? A Maserati?" light.

I don't remind him that we've never seen a lot of those cars on the road, only at the car show. It doesn't matter. These are his benchmarks. He has to go through his list.

Asking him to to be quiet is not an option. Only a few years ago we were begging for this. For him to be interacting. Seems like just yesterday the trip included him screaming to go a specific way, only for "blue house-blue house-blue house-brown house-brown house-brown house-black house-black house-black house".

If there was traffic, or if I had to go a different way, it meant a meltdown.

I remember those days every morning, just when the ride to school across the city starts to get to me. And then I smile and get ready.

It's my turn.

But just before I go, I take a big gulp of coffee and remind myself to actually make a real, printed list for the next ride so I don't get the answer wrong.

"James! Do you see that blue car coming up? It is SO FANCY!"