I think we all have fond memories of one of our first cars. I remember driving around a small pickup truck that was mostly good although it lacked cloth seat, FM radio and AC. It always got me where I was going and without any odd looks other than my windblown hair on hot days. My son, David, just had to part with his first car, "Jet." Jet was a 1998 Volkswagon Jetta. The "ta" part fell off the car, leaving the car with a much cooler and shorter name. When David inherited Jet from his older brother, it was with the understanding that if the car died, there would be no replacement until David starts college. The older kids did not have cars until college and shared cars with Mom and Dad. David was highly motivated to keep his little car running and his freedom of a car of his own. To be honest, we called the car insurance company and found out that the difference of putting the teen driver on an old car only cost us an additional $10 per month, so we figured we'd keep it but commit to not putting any money into it. By the time David's little car quit, it had a number of unusual features:
I believe Jet was the only Volkswagen in the neighborhood that was regularly going out hunting, trapping and towing a boat to the lake. David learned a lot about mechanics from working on his little car. He was pretty regularly spending evenings in the garage working on its latest quirk. Once we had determined that Jet was headed for the scrap iron yard, David told me, "I loved that car." I know you did, D.
Lots of runners have plenty of quirks like David's car. If you look at your running gear, I'd be willing to bet you find a handful of items that are from the 20th century, or at least very old, maybe in rough condition, but you wouldn't part with. This morning, I had on my Minnesota Mitts, a double-layered fleece mitten. I have had these mittens for around 20 years and my hands were even sweaty today with an air temp of -19. Why would I ever part with that reliability and quality? Could I even find a comparable item if I tried? I'm looking forward to running in temps with positive numbers starting tomorrow. It's been below zero almost every morning since Christmas Day. My double fleece mitts can take the day off :-) Happy Running--Missee
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AuthorMissee and Stephanie are two Minnesota sisters and moms who love to run. We are not experts in running, parenting or anything else, but we do have years of experiences that may be helpful or entertaining to others. Archives
May 2020
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