Tiny Plastic Houses

You & Me, Together Whole

I see my car as an extension of myself.

You see, when I was crippled up after the fateful wreck of 1997, a lot of freedom was taken from me… All that new found, newly adult freedom destroyed in an instant, sending me back to an infants life: Stuck in bed most of the day, unable to walk, unable to see new people, unable to even stand or sit on my own, unable to do anything but wait.

When I was able (5 months after the wreck), I convinced my mom to take me out in her Neon to see if, even though my leg didn’t work quite right and I was still using crutches, I could still drive a manual transmission. I only killed it once.

I went out that weekend, family in tow, and used a good portion of my insurance settlement on a car. Suddenly, even though I was still broken and crippled, I felt more whole. The minute I drove it off the lot, I felt my freedom restored. In that purchase, I felt a little more like a person, a little more like the girl I once was — The girl I wanted to be again.

Lots of things have happened since then. Lots of cars have passed by, too… And I like to think that each was chosen to represent the person I was at the time, as if it were just another mechanical piece of me to help me get done what I need to.

Currently I drive and own a 2011 Challenger R/T with a lot of after showroom mods. Like me, she’s not what she was when she came off the assembly line, but I feel she’s better for it. Like me, she does great going really fast in a straight line but a little sloppy when you throw curves her way. I admit we both use more resources than we should, but we also go faster and a little more recklessly, too. Also like me, she has been broken and put back together almost like new, with only a few scratches and dings to tell you what she’s been through.

In short: My challenger looks tough, like we can take on the world at top speed together. I like that.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 5:02 pm. It is filed under Blog, Connect. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.