when i was a kid, my first car was a '67 ford fairlane. i can't express how much i enjoyed driving that car. our parents kinda pushed us a bit, so i ended up ready to graduate a year early. that was about the last thing i wanted to do so senior year i ended up just taking two or three classes and working two jobs. inbetween school hours and work, i'd screw around, go catch a movie, play tennis with one of the other guys who had a short schedule, harrass whatever girl i was trying to get to pay attention to me... but my favorite times were during the rainy season or during the winter. it was great to sit in the car and read a book and hear the rain coming down on the roof, or sit in it in the winter with the heater going and take a little nappy-nap-nap-nap. it was perfect, it was an old enough car and so freakin' huge that you could have the heater blowing full blast and it'd never quite overheat the cabin.

i've got a '67 ford galaxie now, it was the closest i could find to a fairlane at the time. i don't drive it as much as i would like to/should for a couple of reasons. i've had it for about 2 years and am carrying a little guilt for not getting it back to 100% before now, funny how the deployment kinda got in the way of my plans. and then i picked up the motorcycle and just really don't want to drive a car now. but i still try and take it out 2 or three times a week, whether it's just running to get groceries or just because i'm in shorts and don't want to change to jeans and boots to go grab something around the corner. tonight was one of those nights. i just needed to grab a level from target and didn't want to ride the bike. so i jumped in the galaxie and ran to target. while i was inside, the skies opened. it was great. i paid for my thing and came out and just really enjoyed the walk to the car. it was cold and refreshing, and i'm still close enough to my deployment that that's a total treat. and it was coming down HARD. when i got in the car, really all i wanted to do was just sit there for awhile and enjoy the drumming on the roof. funny how much sounds and smells can take you back. i was 16 or 17 again, my biggest concern was whether or not i was going to die a virgin and whether i'd embarrassed myself infront of girl (usually the anser to that was always "yes").

one of these days my 60000000 other unfinished projects will all get checked off the list and i'll get a chance to give that car the love and care and attention it deserves.