Thawing Out

Denver has finally started to emerge from its time that can only be described as living in a perpetual deep freeze. Today with highs in the 40s, people shed their layers of sweaters, hats, gloves and scarves to find comfort in wearing their light jackets again. I'm all for white Christmases, but nothing zaps the holiday spirit out of me more than subzero temperatures.

And thanks to the recent warming trend, my car may not hate me for the rest of the time we spend together. My car and I have, for the most part, gotten along very well. I take her in to get her oil changed, I sometimes feed her premium gas (well maybe not now with outrageous gas prices, but I used to), I am never (consciously) wreckless with her, we've never been in an accident, I try to avoid driving in traffic as much as possible, and I've taken her fun places like Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and even Nebraska. These places let her run free without the worry of other rude drivers and occasionally, the drives are scenic. Even better, we never have to go back to Nebraska. If something happens and she breaks in whatever way, I get it fixed, usually at a Honda dealership, I gave her a new windshield and bumper parts...and I even gave her a bumper sticker-like thing.

However, in recent months, she has felt not only neglected, but unjustly punished as well. For the last several months, my need to drive has declined greatly. Being in between employment opportunities, not only did I go fewer places, but when I did, they were short, uneventful trips, or in an effort not to go crazy, I would walk. My poor car would watch helplessly from her parking spot as I left the house, on foot, to go to the gym or the grocery store.

So of course, she was delighted when I got fulltime work (temporary or not, I was getting out the house!), she would be driven again, and would get to sit in the company of other cars in the light rail lot. When the day finally comes that I get to drive her every single day, what happens? It turns bitterly, almost unbearably, cold. Suddenly not being able to live in a garage becomes a big deal, the snow and ice caked to her are unable to melt for days. Starting in the morning, and at night, takes a great deal of pain and a great deal of sitting and idling. Her speedometer is cranky and really doesn't like the cold, it makes loud noises and puts up a fight to accurately read speeds over 20 mph. When the agony of driving in such conditions is over, in an act of defiance, as if to say "oh hell no, if I have to run in this kind of weather, it better be for a lot longer than this" the gearshift doesn't like to go into park, and therefore rendering me helpless to get the key out of the ignition. Eventually I am able to reason with her, get the car into park, and I can go on my way through the sinus-freezing cold, to the train and to work.

At least when it snows, as opposed to when it rains, the sunroof doesn't dump a payload of water into the passenger seat (or passenger, if occupied). I have that to look forward to when it gets warm enough to rain.

Gosh...maybe my car and I don't get along as well as I thought we did...