377 Days - Blog #47 - The Unexpected Addition to the List

So I’m going to switch up my Saturday and Sunday topics and add an item to my list.

#23 Buy a car.

Not what I expected.  Not even a week ago when I last posted about this list.

It changes a lot.  But some of that I already mentioned.

Certainly, it is a much more expensive item on the list.  One that could well have put me off course from #40, the trip to Ireland.  Fortunately, I had scheduled a dinner to kick off the discussion of our schedule and things we’d like to do.  It confirmed my determination to make it to the British Isles for the big birthday.  It also made me so happy that I have a group of friends with whom I can play such fun adventures.  So, I have to focus myself and get myself there.

Which will lead to this other addition to my list.

#24.  Cut back on Starbucks.   It will be a once a week treat.  Not my daily ritual.  And that, honestly, gets easier now that the temperature makes iced coffee less of a necessity.  I am perfectly content to make a cup of Trader Joe’s (fair trade) Kenya Coffee at home.  And there is an extra $50 a month.  More probably.  But I’m not going to think about that.

Anyway, I’ll get back to the Ireland plans as the year progresses.  I want to go back to today’s accomplishment.

I didn’t take a picture of the new car yet.  I’m still kind of scared of it.  It isn’t brand new.  But it is a Prius… so it is still a more luxurious car than some new models.  It is the newer version of the one I traded in.  It’s also in much better condition, without the dings and dents and scratches from parking on one way streets in Jamaica Plain.  And of course, the tipping point, it has no temperamental warning lights about the ABS system.  It’s a nice car.  Charcoal gray.   I’m not sure what to name it.  I can’t think of any famous charcoal gray muppets (my theory that the Prius looks like a muppet – although this model isn’t as completely round).  I thought about Charlie… because of the Charcoal.  But I kind of think this has to have an Irish name.  Because to remind me of this year and where I need to get, I am going to finally put my IRL logo (that I got the LAST time I went to Ireland – two cars ago) on the bumper.  Sadly, my Obama sticker didn’t survive the removal.

Anyway… I can’t deny I got a little sentimental as I turned on the ignition and saw Kermit sitting there waiting to go off to dismantling.  I emptied the contents of all the compartments last night and found a hodge podge of my life since 2009.  

 My Beauport badge.  The light bracelet from the Coldplay Paradise tour.  A pair of earrings.  Two earrings without a match.  Coins.  A box of mints my co-worker gave me.  The 2012 Banned in Boston pen.  The 2013 Banned in Boston pen.  A purple sharpie.  A note pad that was a prop in some play.  That I kept in my glove compartment so it could be a prop in another play… and also handy for writing notes.  A traffic citation warning from Newton.  An Elizabeth Warren for Senate button.  CDs dated with the month and year when I made them for my commute.  Earbuds.  A dollar.  A Starbucks sleeve from the holidays.  The case for the Crimes of the Heart soundtrack.  A receipt for some repair with Urban Improv written on the back of it so I could park at the Reggie Lewis Center.  Maps that I’ve kept in my cars since I first had a car… and they will go in this next one because I don’t do GPS.

Those are just flashes of my life since 2009.  But… wow, it is strange to take a few minutes and think how much has changed since I bought that car.  I lived in a different city, with no intention of leaving.  I just STARTED writing my novel, with no intention of sharing it with the world.  I took a long drive to Rochester to visit a dear friend in that car.  I started driving out to Oakham on the weekends that first year.  I moved to Worcester (almost entirely except for a handful of large pieces of furniture) with that car.  And then again back to Oakham.  I drove for two and a half years to Boston and back.  I wrote in that car.  I sang.  I cried.  I had anxiety.  I had hope.  I went to weddings.  I went to see my nieces and nephew.  I went to the hospital to say goodbye to my grandmother.  I drove to rehearsals, performances, and many a happy outing with friends or celebrations with family.

It was a car.  I would get to those places no matter what.  But… it is something to think of all the moments and their good and bad that have played out with my beloved Kermit.  And I did love that car.  I had to.  I spent a lot of time in it.

But now… the car is gone.  And I can’t deny, in spite of the huge stress of the return of a car payment, I feel a certain clarity that comes with saying goodbye.  In a way, it was a last connection to my Boston life.  Now I have a new car for the Worcester/Central Mass chapter. 

A chapter I am glad to be writing.