When the new wears off

(Val) My Dad has only bought one brand new car in his entire life, and my Mom has never owned one at all. Likewise, I had gotten quite used to driving “pre-owned” vehicles myself, that is until last year.

In May of 2005 I bought my very first brand new vehicle: A Dodge Grand Caravan SXT (with Stow ‘n Go seats!) that I absolutely love. It’s the perfect vehicle for our family, especially for trips, whether for a weekend or a week. It’s a dream to drive, gets decent mileage, and unlike my old Jimmy, everything still works, including the speedometer.

When your kids are used to riding around in older cars, they tend to get used to being slobs, so when we bought the van, I had to work really hard to re-train them. It took quite a while before anyone was allowed to eat or drink in there, and muddy shoes are still an absolute no-no! (Not easy when you are a frequent visitor to dirt track infields!)

They whine and grumble, but they usually comply. So for over a year, the van has stayed in pretty darned good shape. I don’t wash it or vacuum it as often as I would like, but I do it when I can. I keep it cleaned out, take care of the maintenance, and work really hard at maintaining that sense of newness.

Last Friday was payday, so after running my usual errands, and since it was a nice sunny day, I decided to take Ol’ Blue to the new Green Lantern Car Wash for a Super and I even splurged on a basic inside clean up. Since I hadn’t done a thing after our return from Minnesota, it was way past time.

Well let me tell you, when I climbed in after it was all cleaned up, I was excited. That blue paint gleamed, the inside was free of dog hair and crumbs, and it even smelled nice! I rolled happily out of the lot with a new sense of pride. All too soon I was reminded of that saying about how pride goeth before the fall!

Later that afternoon I had an appointment to have some warranty work done on the van, and my daughter followed me to the dealership. Just a few miles from our destination, there was some building construction, and, following the city’s code, the street was being washed down after the dump trucks moved each load from one place to the other. You probably see where I’m going here, but I’ll continue anyway. With no warning about the wet pavement, I had no time to slow down, and when I hit that water all I could do was try not to say all the nasty words that came to my mind. I was alone, but still, God is always listening!

I sighed, thinking maybe the van was just wet and would dry to its former shininess, but alas, that was not to be. I soon discovered that it was covered with a dirty film from front to back. So much for my spotless paint job, but at least the inside was still sparkling.

The next day, I had both my kids and my son’s friend with me and we had had a very busy day volunteering at our church, so we stopped at McDonald’s for lunch on the way home. The deal was that we would get food only, and get our drinks at home. My son, being 13, is not the best listener, and he thought he was getting a good deal by ordering a meal, so he and his buddy both ordered meals, which of course, come with drinks.

You probably see what’s coming here too, but again, I’ll finish the story.

On the way out of the parking lot, I hit a pothole, and the next thing I heard was my son shouting, “Get me some napkins, and I need a bunch!”

Well, wouldn’t you know it but there wasn’t a napkin in the entire van, but my daughter quickly tossed back the box of tissues I keep handy. I chanced a look backward and saw a river of Coca Cola rolling toward me and I started yelling at my son. No, I’m not proud of it, but I’ll admit it, I yelled, and it wasn’t pretty. And when my daughter told me to quit yelling, I did, and everyone got the silent anger treatment the rest of the way home.

As the kids hopped out and headed inside to eat, I quickly got to work trying to sop up the mess. There didn’t appear to be as much as I had feared, and fortunately, the carpet is Scotchguarded, and I was able to blot it up rather quickly. I was feeling pretty good when I went in to eat my own, cold lunch.

Later, I went back out to really go over the mess and see what I had missed, plus blot up the carpet cleaner I had sprayed on, according to the directions. A pool of brown caught my eye, and I realized that my lovely Stow ‘n Go seats, as wonderful as they are, had also caused a problem.

You see, these seats, when in the upright position, lock into big brackets that are bolted to the floor of the van. The brackets are in a slightly recessed area, and poke up through slits in the carpet. It turns out that Coca Cola, like most liquids, seeks the lowest point around, and it had flowed through those slits and down into the dips in the floor of the van, under the carpet. I had to wipe up a mess I could only feel, but not see, soaking it with a rag, wringing it out, then starting the process again. Oh boy, was that ever fun!

Not only did I have to do that, but when I was done, I had to explain to my son why I had yelled, and do my best to apologize and set things right. Then I had to humble myself in front of his friend. Talk about eating crow. Yes, even McDonald’s is better than that.

So the moral of the story is, don’t get too attached to anything new. No matter how much you appreciate it, and work hard for it and do your best to take care of it, the new will always wear off eventually. And even those “new car smell” air fresheners can’t change that. And besides, stuff is just stuff, no matter how old it is. It’s our relationships that matter the most.