There was a day when it would have been my car parked in front of this sign—with an electric cord running out from under the hood to the nearest outlet—so I could be sure my engine would start in the morning.
And it would have been today (and yesterday and this whole dang bone-chilling week)—if I was still driving my first car.
The ol’ puke-colored, banged-up, $300-and-never-needed-a-single-repair, don’t-laugh-I’m-paying-off-student-loans Pontiac boat-I-mean-station-wagon.
Hahahaha! Oh my gosh if I can’t laugh at myself, who will?
Yes, I drove that.
Yes, it was in another life.
Yes, my friends called it The Char Car for the inexplicable “burn” marks on the sides.
Yes, my hubcaps would sometimes fall off when I stopped too fast.
Yes, sometimes I chased them down (in a skirt and heels).
Yes, sometimes I let them roll right on down the road and pretended I didn’t see them (while at a stop sign in front of a family’s house as they all watched me from the yard).
Ok now this is verging on traumatic.
But funny.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to plug in my car last night and it started just fine this morning. Even in below-zero weather.
We’ve come a long way, baby. It’s good to remember these things.
by julie rybarczyk
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