Some time in August the Check Engine light in my 2010 Mazda 5 came on. They really should call it the “I need ten thousand dollars worth of work” light. It was fourteen years old and had carried a lot of bins of rhythm instruments and dancing scarves in its day. It was the Mom-mobile and the teacher-mobile and the music-mobile. Sad to say, it ended its years sitting around a lot due to COVID and my early retirement.
Maybe it was just sad.
For a variety of reasons, we did not get around to replacing it until this week. It’s amazing how long that felt and kind of scary how thrilled I am to have my own car again. In theory two people should be able to get by on one car (especially if one of them is retired) but…it has been a l…o…n…g six weeks.
I always seem to be the one who lags in the technology department when it comes to cars. My first car had no clock at all when everyone else’s did. My second car still had manual locks. My third car had a cd player - - oh, joy! - - but no screen with a back-up camera, GPS, or Bluetooth capability.
Now, my friends, I have it all. I’m tickled but also convinced I’ll break something. If there is another level of fancy technology I still don’t have yet, please don’t tell me. I’m luxuriating in my new bells and whistles.
However, now I have an entirely new problem.
As soon as I announced the arrival of my new wheels, folks started asking what I was going to name it. I have named plenty of stuffed animals but a car is different. I’m just not ready yet.
(To be honest, I have named all of my other cars but then promptly forgot all about it. I just don't anthropomorphize cars the way that I do teddy bears, for some reason.)
It would be funny if people named cars the way that they do pleasure boats and race horses. I can see naming it Happy Errands (if a boat) or Julia’s Last Hurrah (if a racehorse.) But, as a car? I’m stumped. It didn’t help that a friend reached out to let me know that it was National Name Your Car Day. Sheesh. The pressure is on!
Aside from the great joy of having a sense of personal independence and autonomy restored, there’s one more thing that makes it different from any other car I’ve owned. It’s red. I never thought I’d be cool enough to own a red car.
Not my exact car. Example from a basic Google search.
So, for now, I’m going to call it Red. If another name eventually surfaces it can always be the auto “formerly known as Red.”
Do you have any good car stories? Let me know.
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