old men and old cars

it was a beautiful day today...68 degrees. i was so excited. and apparently it's only supposed to get nicer as the week goes on. did i mention it was snowing just 4 days ago? yeah, welcome to kentucky weather.

i decided it would be the perfect day to wash my car. i don't know what it is about it, but i really like washing my car. it's not something i do very often, especially anymore. i find it therapeutic for some strange reason. maybe "the rain on my car is a baptism..." yeah, probably not...but it's what it made me think of.

i drive a black 94 toyota corolla...a sporty one (it even has a spoiler), not a family one. i got it in 1999 right after i graduated high school and i was so proud of the fact that it was mine. i paid for it...over three years (but i still paid every penny). she's been such a great car and she's been through a lot. she's getting up there in age, but she's a toyota...she's a real trooper. over 166,000 miles and i haven't had any major problems with her. i think as long as she gets her routine oil change, she feels so good that she's ready to go. i felt really sorry for her today. she's been so good to me and i haven't even given her a bath.

so i gave her a bath. she looked so much better. at that point she wanted more than just a bath. she was looking at me with those japanese eyes saying "it's been a while since i've had a good waxing." let's just be honest. i've never waxed my car in the 6 years i've had her. i've done the "fake wax" stuff at the car wash, and my brother has waxed her for me, but i have never waxed her.

i "wax[ed] on and wax[ed] off" for over an hour. i was really starting to feel for daniel larusso by the end of it...and he had a lot more than just one car to wax. but when i was done, i stood back and took in the view. i finally understood why old men were so proud of their old cars...why they spent time fixing them up, washing and waxing them, giving them new paint jobs. yeah, i guess a lot of it has to do with the fact that they're "classics," but i think some of it has to do with the fact that they're proud of the work they put in it to make them beautiful. so i looked at my black, shiny, beautiful car and for the first time in a while, i was proud of it.