"Pride of Ownership"

This morning Pop and I carpooled to a meeting in Springer. He drove - on the pretense that he didn't trust my driving. Really, I understand, not even Thomas enjoys climbing into and out of my little Pita. We stopped at the Sportsman's for gas on the way home. I amused myself watching a stocky young guy squeegee-ing the windows of his sports car. He meticulously cleaned every window, wiping the squeegee with a paper towel between swipes lest he leave a streak. It amused me, and I said so to Pop. I asked him how often he washes his vehicles, and he remarked that it just depends, but he did say, "It is pride of ownership". These are words that would get me only a few hours later. I came home and ate my leftover pizza. Thomas was still cleaning up the kitchen from dinner the night before, and though he looked like he had just awoken, he insisted he's been up for hours. As we talked, I started working on a grocery list for next weekend. We talked about this and that, and then he asked for the umpteenth time, "So you want to go to Raton and look at cars? You still want to get a new one?" And for the umpteenth time, I shrugged it off and hemmed and hawed. Spending money is something I don't always do so well - particularly on big ticket items! Mary and I shared the cost of our first two cars. The first car I bought, my Pita, was a cash in hand deal, and it was, aside from my college education, the most expensive thing I purchased. Then Thomas and I bought land - a big investment for sure. But now a car... Thomas and I both commute. I spend the same time driving to work that it used to take me to walk. I put at least 44 miles on my car each day - little more than a gallon of gas. Thomas drives 110 miles to Raton and back. In the truck this is about 6.5 gallons. In Pita that would be just under 3 gallons. Gas prices for commuting are a huge portion of our budget! We did get a good tax return, and we had talked about using it on a fuel-efficient car. Thomas had looked a little, but I was dragging my feet. I mean, come on, I was without a car for about 8 months before I bought Pita, not because I didn't have need of a car sooner. So I braced myself for an afternoon of indecision and concern about cost, mileage, efficiencies, etc. I told Thomas to be gentle, and we hit the road for Raton. Before we got to Springer, I mentioned to Thomas that there was a new Toyota on the curb at Vincent's in Springer. Springer Auto is one of the places Thomas stopped, and there was one car there that really peaked his interest. Anyhow, the Toyota was older that we were wanting and much more expensive. However, the Hyundai Sonata that Thomas had been interested in was still there. He had done his research on the car, and we both felt like it was a winner. We took it around the block for a test drive. Thomas swerved, braked, and otherwise put it through the paces. It seemed to be in good shape. Evidently a family traded it in for a bigger vehicle, which meant it has the wear and tear of a bunch of kids, but not problems under the hood. Vincent quoted us $1100 less than he quoted Thomas a couple weeks ago, putting it under my preferred price cap. When we got back from the test drive, he dropped the price another $1000. SOLD! Our afternoon of car shopping was quick and painless after all! Now the question arose what would happen to Pita, but she is not leaving the road. Thomas will be driving Pita, or "Lumpy" as he calls my car, and I will be driving the new, not named as yet car. So I spent the afternoon detailing the inside of my car. First a considerable amount of clothing, tupperware, books, grocery bags, etc had to be removed, not to mention a handful of rocks I have collected on our travels. In cleaning Pita the haunting expression "pride of ownership" came back to me. I don't take a lot of pride in the upkeep of the inside of my car, though I take great pride in 40 mpg. And the inside of Thomas's truck is not much better, but I felt keenly aware that I would be getting to drive the nice big car (the Sonata feels like a boat compared to a Honda Civic coupe) while my husband would be folding himself up into my little car. So I did my best to make it nice, vacuuming and wiping everything down. "Pride in ownership", indeed! So now I have a nice car that I have to keep in good condition. It will get a first road trip next weekend to Denver, as we fly out of DIA for Portland. How spoiled I will feel to have working AC and cruise control! And 33 - 35 mpg is not so bad...