Ode to my Cars 15 of 31 #sol16

I get in my blue Subaru Outback, set my travel mug of Throat Coat tea in the cup holder.
I wave one last time to the kiddo who is waving from the large window of our wonderful house.
I set my lunch box on the floor, full of more chicken noodle soup, almonds, and a bottle of kombucha and set my big Teachers College bag on the passengers seat.
I plug in my iphone and press play.
Season 1, episode 10 of Serial begins and I turn the car's engine on.
My how my commute has changed.

I flashback to driving my Gramma's old 1985 beige Mercury Topaz to high school.
Back then I would throw my backpack in the backseat, chew a piece of gum, turn on Country radio and pick up my friend Ryan for our daily carpool.

I flashback to driving my mom's black Durango with the neon pink stripe once the Merc's brakes failed me. I'd turn on Wild 94.9 and blast the bass of songs like Remix to Ignition while driving home on a hot sunny Redwood City afternoon.

I flashback to driving my parents silver 1996 Volvo, one of my favorite cars. I grew into adulthood in that car. I learned I needed glasses in that car the night my drunk friends could read the street signs before I, the sober driver, could. That car parked on campus during the school day, in the garage at my first true job, in my first apartment's parking lot. It helped me take the 12 minute commute turned 45 minutes in traffic from my second apartment and my second real job. It was in the Volvo that I moved practically across the country to Northern Idaho to live with my now hubby and go to grad school.

I listen to Serial and realize that this Subaru has been with me almost all the years in my education career. It has been my only car parked in front of our current house. The Sub brought home my baby boy from the hospital.

I've never been someone who names their cars or gives them any extra tlc, yet I get why people do. When you stop and think about it, on some days, especially in my current role as a specialist traveling to nine schools, I spend more time with my car than my family.

I turn my attention back to the podcast at hand, now learning more about the legal system than Law & Order ever taught me and pondering the possible innocence of Adnan and sipping my cold care tea.