Autos Fueled by Gratitude

I’ve been dying to write for ages. I often journal in my head then hope I can recall it when I finally get a moment to myself on the computer.  

I achieved another milestone last week.

 I packed up two kids and two dogs in Lisa and made the trek to Peachland for a family weekend. I drove it ALL on my own. One short break each way. No double vision. It’s been almost 3 years since I was able to make that trip as the sole driver. It struck me as I was coasting down from the Coquihalla summit enjoying the snow covered hills.  I started to reminisce about our past vehicles. 

Back in 2002 we were blessed.   My mother-in-law felt strongly that we needed to start driving a reliable automobile with a baby so she financed our first new car. A VW Jetta Turbo diesel  station wagon.  I’ll call her Gretchen. Gretchen was peppy, handled beautifully and was ridiculously fuel efficient. About 1100km on a 40 litre tank of fuel.  At the time, diesel was cheaper than gas – as it should be considering  it’s much easier to produce.

Gretchen was great to us. She took us from the Pacific Coast to Toronto; Whistler to Arches in Utah; Vegas to the coast of California. She needed very little attention except for a few things.  She had expensive taste in oil – only the best synthetic for her. She had biodegradable bearings.  Her brakes warped on challenging descents.  After about 250k she started to limp. After a couple of timing chains, around 350k, she finally coughed up her final hairball.  Jeff and I were heading to see my oncologist for the first time. She just didn’t want to see me suffer I guess. We ended up selling Gretchen to a keen mechanic. Hope she’s getting all the love and attention she needs in her senior years or has donated her healthy organs.   I look longingly whenever I see a TDI or “fry grease” fueled vehicle pass me.

Thankfully Jeff had purchased a well maintained GMC Envoy the year before. Bruce.  Bruce was meant to be his “just around Whistler/ part time/pull a camper/get home from skiing in time to pick up the kids vehicle. But Bruce became a full time work horse for over 2 years.  He had 4WD. But boy he guzzled the fuel.  By the time I was working full time I felt like I was just throwing twoonies out the window and contributing to polar ice melting. He was “trucky” with greater clearance, a bouncy suspension and a big rear end and huge right shoulder making it challenging for me to drive. 

Once I backed up into a bus. Yes, a bus.  At the time I had undiagnosed double vision with no depth perception.  Jeff later lectured, “Well then you should have seen 2 buses. How the heck could you back up into 2 huge buses? “  Well, shortly thereafter I was medically advised not to drive. Lucky British Columbians! I currently drive with single vision, a prism lens or a patch – yes I had to retest for driving so you’re safe for now.

My return to work program started in October 2012. I started driving to Squamish 3 days a week and by December it was 5 days. The bank account was getting drained by the fuel purchases and life at home was a gong show: kids calling stressed and in tears as I’d forgotten to arrange their rides to activities before leaving for work;   friends getting frantic calls and texts looking for help with transportation with no reciprocity; Jeff asking me to pick up groceries after work had completely exhausted me; me running a cab service on my days off.  

I’ll interject here and say that we did try to use transit which I wholly support. Sadly, service to our home is poor – we can’t even catch a bus to the dance studio which is 1 km south of here.  We used the bus for over 2 years.  I puked a few times walking uphill from the highway as the ride was too long and I was undergoing chemo.  I wrote a letter about accessibility.  Ironically, you can’t get to the bus stop with a wheelchair to catch the wheelchair accessible buses.  Jeff missed it sometimes – no  show on the bus’ part - and the kids were left to fend for themselves after school. And so on. 

Back to the topic of automobiles….I started searching for a new car in the fall. I researched the snot out of costs, financing, fuel efficiency and so on. I had my heart set on a Prius C. I wanted to shoot the middle finger to the gas companies and help keep the polar bears happy.  However, the budget would just not allow it. You accumulate a fair amount of debt when battling cancer for so long.  

We started looking for used cars and it was just silly. No-one would call back, used car people were untrustworthy and choices were very limited by the budget. Enter my saintly mother-in-law. She had thought about a new car for awhile. It finally came to fruition.  Jeff and Mary did a ridiculous amount of work arranging the import to BC but once my new lady made it, I forgot all about the stressors. Oodles of thanks to both of you and some hugs to Andy and Pete for helping get her on the road.

Lisa.  Lisa the 2001 V6 Camry with very few km on her.  Lisa is easy like Sunday morning. She’s smooth like jazz. She never coughs when she tries hard. She’s a low-rider but she handles charmingly . She’s got a bun warmer and a window to the heavens.  She’s got leather seats and maintains her inside temperature consistently. In cruise control she purrs up the mountains and checks her speed perfectly as she descends.  She’s pretty good on the fuel considering her powerful motor.   Pretty much luxury on wheels. I’m relieved she doesn’t have enough room to pack a hospital bed. Yes, I did that with the Jetta.  The kids love her. The dogs love her. I am in love too.  I am so relieved every moment that I don’t have to speed home to deal with the after school mele while fitting in all my work hours. I even love her missing front Toyota symbol and scratched bumper because I won’t be the first to leave my mark.  And luckily Lisa came when she did as Bruce decided to kick up a fuss and break his drive system within 24 hours of her arrival. We could have been up a creek without a paddle.

I am filled with gratitude for my mom-in-law for making this possible… and my tireless husband too. I feel  blessed that I can drive a safe, comfortable car again!

Just an interesting note.  Before I started writing today I was feeling all aggro-irritable and blue. However, with all the good memories and gratitude, my spirit’s been lifted. May something as materialistic but important as a good automobile lift your spirits too!

Love, P