Thanks for posting. A lovely story that I have to admit choked me up and struck a chord with me.
My Dad had always told me he would buy me a moped when I turned 16, but he died suddenly of a heart attack when I was 15. After he was gone, my Mum found some cash in his wallet that he had been saving which she knew must have been for the moped. So when I was 16 she bought me a second hand moped. It was a French built Motobecane...quite an uncool thing really but it certainly had character lol. Time went on and I sold the moped as I moved onto motor bikes and then cars. Many years ago, I was told that the guy we sold the ped to still had it. I thought about contacting him to buy it back, but did nothing about it. More recently, realising what it had meant to me, I decided I wanted to try and get it back. But the buyer had sold it and I've no idea who to.
It's strange how something inanimate can have such significance... even though it may make little sense to others.