Driving down memory lane..

Recently I found a list of 80 tips to help you journal. I posted it on my Tumblr
http://mookiefaye.tumblr.com/ if you wanted to check it out.  I thought I'd tackle one today.

One that really stood out to me was: Describe your first car.
I really don't know why, it's not like my first car was amazing and super new. On the contrary.
When I'm a parent, my kid's first car is going to be like mine, a junker.

Earl was a 1989 Ford Mercury. He looked something like this, white with rust everywhere.

Yes, his name was Earl. I loved him. He had a personality, I know how he worked. He and I were a pair, like best friends. I could always rely on him. All my friends were having car trouble with their newer cars and I just kept thinking, "Ha! Earl runs just fine and he could be your car's grandpa." Well, it's true.

 A teenager's first car is extremely important to them.. They no longer have to rely on their parents for rides, a true taste of independence. I felt like that too. With your own car, you can go places... literally.

But I was never embarrassed by Earl because he was mine. I made him awesome. What I think is funny is that my parents and siblings even called him Earl. It just fit. He was a cranky old man. It was wonderful.

Earl even came with me to college! He only made it to freshman year though. My parents decided that I should sell him and they'd give me their old car (a 1998 Chevy Cavalier.. a huge step up). I'm not going to lie, I was sad. I knew that Earl had to go, but I didn't want him to. He'd been with me since I was 16 and now he was leaving to be with some stranger. Someone who might not love him like I did. Might not treat him as well. Could crash him the next day and he'd really be gone forever.

I originally put him up for sale and no one wanted him. I got no phone calls or anything. I thought to myself, "Yes! I can keep him!" As soon as I got my hopes up, someone called.

"Hi, I'm calling about the Mercury in the swap sheet. Is it still for sale?"
I wanted to yell into the phone "NO! HE'S MINE! YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM" but I didn't.
Four days later, the man came and picked Earl up and handed me $200. (I only got half, $100 went to my parents). I remember standing there on the street, watching a stranger pull away in my car. He turned the corner and then Earl was gone. Just like that. He'd been in my life for three years and poof. Gone. I think a tear might have slide down my cheek.

 We'd had some good times together.

Want to hear some Earl stories?

1) We ran over three of those orange traffic cones. It was late at night, I'd say around 11:00 and I had just gotten back from a track meet. I was tired and I just wanted to go home, plus I was one of the last people leaving the school. There were traffic cones all over the parking lot because they were doing construction. I didn't really notice them until they were stuck under Earl. I mean stuck, they were not moving at all. I thought my life was over and I was stranded in the school parking lot. A nice boy came over and helped me get them out. We became friends afterward. I never really thanked Earl for that.


2)I hit my own car. To clarify, I hit my new car with my old car (before I knew my new car would actually be my new car). I live on the end of a small town, with my driveway facing a side street. We park in the driveway and on the street next to it. Well, Earl was parked in the driveway and I wanted to go somewhere. My mom had parked her Chevy Cavalier (my new car) and I didn't really notice it. I put Earl in reverse and gunned it, slamming right into my mom's car with enough force to actually move it a few feet. Yeah, my dad wasn't happy about that. The dent is still there too. I laugh every time I see it. I reminisce and think about Earl. I miss the old fuddy duddy.

3) I often forgot to shut my lights off. I don't know what it was about Earl, but kept forgetting to shut his lights off. The little button was there, all I had to do was pull the button out but I just never did it. My dad got a lot of phone calls. Or I asked a lot of strangers to jump my car.
"Dad, I have a problem."
"Where are you this time?"

"Hi, excuse me, can I ask you a favor?"
"Sure" "No" "What it is?" (depending on the person)
"Can you jump me? My car is dead"

4) My right windshield wiper never really worked. It would only clean about a quarter of what is supposed to. So when it rained, I was screwed.

5) We got stuck in the snow a lot. He had no traction on his tires whatsoever and we got stuck. I live in Iowa, so winters just stunk hard core.

There was a lot of this happening. In college, I had to park in a gravel parking lot on a very little decline/incline (basically I had to back up while going up a veeerrry small incline, but Earl knew it and rebelled).  One week we had a brutal snow/ice storm. So much snow, everything was covered in ice. It was time for break and I walked out to the parking lot to find Earl. He's white, he blended it. I tried to back him out of his spot, but he couldn't get the friction under his tires to go. I put sand down, nothing. More sand. Nothing. I shoveled snow. Nothing. After an hour and a half of sand and shovel, I was freezing and I'm pretty sure I had hypothermia and frostbite in my fingers. But somehow, miraciously, it worked. Earl must have known that I was losing hope and feeling in my phalanges  so he decided to cooperate. FINALLY!

Also, another snow story. I got stuck making a U-turn. In order to park on my street at home, I usually turn down the street and turn around at the end (it's not an intersection, but it simply just turns on the next street, no cross traffic or anything. Like a dead end, but only with one road on the left). The roads were completely snow covered and I went to turn around and I literally got stuck, blocking the whole road. I couldn't back up after I hit the curb. I had to go get my dad and have him get me out because Earl was not moving for me. Go figure.

I forgot to mention all the things that were wrong with him:
1. the driver side window didn't roll down (of if you got it down, it didn't roll back up)
2. the air conditioning didn't work
3. the heating didn't work
4. I mentioned the windshield wiper. Yeah, the stunk
5. the door in the back didn't open (behind the passenger)
6. I had a CD player, but if I put a CD in, every time I'd hit a bump it would skip (in Iowa, roads have lots of bumps)
7. the trunk had a mind of its own. Self explanatory
8. he ate gas like it was his job

Despite all of his problems, I loved Earl. I'm glad I didn't have a nicer car. Giving kids a super nice car that young is just dumb. They're probably going to wreck it anyway (I did not get in one car accident or hit one deer, fyi).

I could go on about him, but I should probably do homework. That's my Earl. I miss him sometimes. He had such a personality. My car now does not. It's just.. a car. It barely has a name (I call it Charlie, but he's not really a Charlie like Earl was an Earl). It's just not the same. I wonder where Earl is now... I hope not in the junkyard.