midlife crisis comes early

Driving down highway 24 today towards Walnut Creek, I spied a Lexus that at the moment I am lusting after.

Please understand that I am not one to lust after automobiles. Perhaps that is because when I was 20 I spent the summer driving around Southern California in a black BMW 320i with New York (liberty) plates that had about 3000 miles on it. Oh, the fun we had (including a couch cushion expedition of our own).

Thanks to the Internet I have learned that it is the Lexus SC (my guess is that "SC" stands for sports convertible). I think it was black onyx. Or perhaps twilight amesthyst pearl? The two blond bubbleheads in it (no offense to blonds) were transporting what looked to be these ugly blue couch cushions. They had the top down and I really don't know what she could see out the rear window other than that ugly shade of blue. To add insult to injury she had her hazard lights on -- like we needed a warning about these two.

But I digress really. This car just eeked beauty and luxury with just enough sass to possibly be worth what I am sure is a cardiac arrest inducing sticker price. Still I lust.

No room in the back seat for those little ones that my biological clock is loudly chiming about. Ha! What am I saying. How could I forget, the "we promise not to grow" speech. I kid you not -- this really happened.

When I was in the sixth grade (so I would have been 12, and my sister 11) my mom, who would have been 30, decided it was time to get rid of the ford galaxy 500. She thought a Volvo would be a nice practical car (beside having two children and no washing machine, she was also a real estate broker).

So off to the Volvo dealer we went. She found a nice sedan. We had taken the test drive and she was all set to start the haggling process, when she spied it in the show room. A Fiat spider 2000 convertible in brown with cream interior. It was dreamy.

Of course being the three-steps-ahead-of-the-game 12-year old that I was, I instantly fell in love. My thoughts drifted to how in four years time it would make the perfect car for her favorite 16-year old. Oh yes, the dreams I had.

The evil salesman actually let us all get in and take a spin. It had a back seat with seat belts even! We climbed in back and swore (girl scout's honor) that we wouldn't grow. And guess what ended up parked in our driveway?! Oh yes!

Of course, it was the most impractical car. It meant only one of us could go to the grocery store or the laundr-o-mat. In the end, my dad stopped helping to make the payments, and it was sold. How sad was that day. We loved that car despite it all.

So who knows, maybe one day I will be driving around in this (baby seat in the back seat):



Stranger things have happened. Never doubt what is possible.