Life in the fast lane (it's where I prefer to drive)

I ran into an old friend today who hadn't seen my new car. In fact, he thought I was still in a car I haven't owned in over 4 years. But it made me start thinking about all of my cars.

I grew up with parents who will drive a car into the ground. Only when it becomes unsafe is a car no longer a part of our family. We also name cars, but that's a whole other thing. In my entire life, my mother has had 3 cars and my father has had 4 (the most recent one being my old car). That's 33 years and a total of 7 cars here people! So I always thought I would be the exact same way. Wrong!

I got my first car, a grey-blue 1989 Honda Accord, for my 16th birthday. It was a complete surprise! I drove that car for nearly 4 years. Then, I got the Green Machine, a green 1995 Ford Explorer, during my sophomore year of college. Nothing was wrong with my Honda, other than it was small and I was driving to and from college. So my parents felt safer with me in an SUV. The Green Machine had many adventures and did a lot of tailgating. It was a great car and I loved it. In 2005 (I think), I finally got the car of my dreams- a silver Toyota Solara convertible. I named her Olivia. I have always wanted a convertible and figured, what better time in my life than when I had no responsibilities?! I had Olivia until I went to work at my new job, at which point she went to my father. I think he's changed her name, but I'm not sure to what. My new job came with a car. So my new car was a black Mercedes SLK350. It was a hard-top convertible (yes, another convertible). I named her Samantha. She was adorable, fun, sporty. But apparently, I thought she was also a submarine. One afternoon, after a flash rainstorm, I was driving to dinner. I saw a large puddle ahead of me, but didn't realize it was deep AND wide. In tiny Samantha went, and out she never came. I flooded the engine and she was never able to drive again. Next up, the black Mercedes E500. Black Betty, later to be known as Christine. I've gone through the saga of Christine before, so we won't rehash that. Suffice it to say, Christine needed to be gone from my life. And so she was. My new (hey- she's only a year old- that's still new) car is Fiona, a 2010 silver Toyota Highlander. After Olivia, Fiona's been my favorite car of all time. She is beautiful. She is functional. She's a winner! But let's look at this- I've been driving for a little over half my life now and I have had 6 cars. Yes, 6 cars!! That's almost as many as my parents have had TOTAL in double the time! I'm a little embarrassed at how many cars I've driven. But I have faith that Fiona will be it for me. Until death do us part. Her death, hopefully.....