Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: we’re getting old! And it happened again!

Last weekend Anne turned the big 5-5. At least it’s our understanding that 55 is “big”. She’ll now be eligible for discounts at select businesses even though she looks half my age under most lighting conditions. I’m a mere babe at 53 but sometimes have to tell cashiers that, no, I am not retired yet. Most days we don’t feel this old and have to remind each other that we are indeed this old and the actuarial math works out against us.

Longtime MCC readers know in addition to our annual road trips the two of us have a twice-yearly tradition of spending our birthdays together, usually traveling to some new place or attraction as a short-term road trip — partly as an excuse to spend time together on those most wondrous days, partly to explore areas we’ve never experienced before. That’s every May for me and every October for her. We’re the Goldens. It’s who we are and what we do.

This time, though, she thought we should pause the tradition and keep her birthday weekend simple. That’s partly because Dragon Con took a lot out of us last month, physically as well as budgetarily. As we were just talking about the other day, we’ve also had numerous non-fun, adulting-type malfunctions and repairs come up this year. Also, we have another comic-con coming up next weekend (thankfully a small one), so we aren’t lacking for reasons to get out of the house together. So instead of another birthday road trip, we decided to try a themed restaurant only recently opened, one with a somewhat kitschy design aesthetic. That way we could pretend it’s a full-on roadside attraction even though it’s ten minutes down the street. The pics are indistinguishable from some of our past vacation experiences, which is nice.

Anne’s birthday meal was at Ford’s Garage, a restaurant chain with locations in eight states. Their latest location in Avon is their second in Indiana. From their site:

Founded in 2012, the original Ford’s Garage opened in Fort Myers, Florida, less than a mile from Henry Ford’s winter home! Today, as an official licensee of the Ford Motor Company, we pay tribute to America’s most iconic automobile brand by offering a truly historic dining experience—right down to our nostalgic auto shop uniforms and the hand-hammered copper bar top at each of our locations.

The food isn’t fancy — burgers, salads, etc. — but some of it has car-themed names. There’s an entire section of dishes called “roadsters” that the menu doesn’t explain, and different locations may give them different names, which aren’t online and can only be chuckled at in person. If only I’d thought to take pics of their menu.

(Not pictured: the urinals, which resembled oil drums with one side cut out.)

(I ordered the burger medium well, which came, at best, medium rare. So far, no debilitating side effects.)

The burgers were what they were. We had no illusion they’d be haute cuisine. We just wanted to eat someplace we hadn’t been before and spend time together before she became a Heartland Film Festival widow for the next week.

She also had a grand time that morning at the local Hallmark store diving into their 2025 ornaments. The aging process has not affected her love of Christmas, and in fact could probably get away with sending a letter to the North Pole and convincing Santa she’s still young enough for surprise presents under the tree. Maybe on Christmas Eve we can leave out some cookies and one of those shakes, just to see what happens.