Last week I got a new car. It was time. My car was almost a teenager. Besides, it was a Toyota and, although I never had trouble with it and it wasn't a model that was recalled, I was a bit nervous about it.
I was just going to look. Maybe I'd wait until the Toyota's birthday in July to buy and then I'd check out a sport car and become the "Hot Granny" in a cool Camaro.
My son offered to come car shopping with me. I didn't like the spots cars. The ride was too rough. I looked at the Nissan Maxima and surprised both of us by saying, "I'll take it."
It's a white four-door with all kinds of gadgets. So many in fact, that when the salesman began demonstrating what button to push for this and what knob to turn for that, I almost began to cry. It's going to take months to figure out. But the best thing it has is Bluetooth--hands-free phone, a safe way to talk while driving.
The last day I drove my Toyota I felt a wave of grief. I remembered when Ralph and I picked it out and the summer evening I drove it home with Ralph in the passenger seat. He was part of that car. I patted it gently as I parked it at the dealer and whispered another goodbye to the times I spent with Ralph.
The same day I got the Nissan I read an article on the Internet about a woman whose husband died suddenly. A few weeks later she bought the sports car they had been looking at because she knew he'd want her to have it. She put his ashes in the glove compartment so he could enjoy it, too.
After chuckling at the story, I got Ralph's driver's license and put it in a little plastic box in the glove compartment. Now he can enjoy the new car, too, and I don't miss the Toyota at all.
0 comments:
Post a Comment