Oct 16, 2011

What A Difference A Decade Makes



It occurs to me yesterday as I spent 5 hours cleaning the foulness out of the inside of my mini van just how much my life has changed since adoption. Prior to 2000 I used to own the above sporty, red car. Oh, how I loved and pampered that baby! The auto detailer came to my office every other month to tweak it's perfection.

I will admit I got a few speeding tickets motoring in this baby.

Only because it was red.

Now I own this:


I had to trade in my red baby for more cargo space. I needed room for 1 to 3 car seats, a couple of wheel chairs and a few strollers at one time. I had to order one with a bench seat in the middle to accommodate The Boy when he looked like this:


Which was every six months or so although I admit that even when he was able to bend at the waste I could barely squeeze him into the red car.

As I cleaned the purple crayons out of the sliding door tracks, the Pediasure off of the ceiling liner and scraped the melted gummy bears out of the seat belt buckles with a bread knife I couldn't help but ponder how my life has changed in a decade.

Now the only thing I get stopped for in my white mini van is expired auto tags because I'm too busy to remember my own birthday.

I used to look like this:

Me and my buddy, Tim. RIP sweet friend.


Now I look like this:





Wendell Berry said, " The past is our definition. We may strive, with good reason, to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it, but we will escape it only by adding something better to it."


Somewhere between mourning the loss of my red car and burrowing through the petrified forest of dead nuggets and french fries two things occurred to me.

First thing being that I've added something much better to my life during the past decade.

Second thing being that I'm going to offer my neighbor across the street twenty bucks to finish the outside of the mini van.

7 comments:

B.D.D.W. said...

Very functional choice in transportation. the after picture looks nothing like you ,we all may feel like that at some time or another, but Lady you are still very beautiful, how many times do I have to tell you thaat? We only feel down, messed up ,and angry after dealing it the social security system .I always say "Iligitamus Non Carborundum" or "don't let the bastards grind you down"

Elizabeth said...

We look a lot alike today.

Low Maintenance Mama said...

Next month, my husband and I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. I drove a Honda Civic then. Now I drive a 15 passenger van. Its been a wild ride - one birth daughter, one son lost, four adopted children, one might as well be adopted son, and two repeat customers on their way to adoption. Can't wait to see what the next 10 have in store for me.

Selene said...

Yairs, uncannily accurate portrait of me, also. And I am with you on the car thing.

Anonymous said...

I've had a van for years. About a month ago I vacuumed it, paid for it to be vacuumed and then two days later put Katie in the back with popcorn. What was I thinking?

Love the before and after photos of you:)

Jennie said...

I will say one thing about the "now" photo... You have a very lovely tiara.

I LOVE that shot of you and Tim... Tell Barbara I want it on my wall.

Jennie said...

The tiara looks lovely on you ;)

I want that pic of you and Tim on my wall!