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!
And it was wonderful to get to see all of you on your trip to Peachland! So glad you were able to make it. Looking forward to the next visit (but with a little one in tow).
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