Sniff.... Eric took one big step towards becoming a man last night. He bought his first car, a 1984 Toyota Celica. It was nice to see the excitement on his face when he and Susan drove it home. No, the neighbors might not have been impressed (thanks for raining on the parade, y'all), but to Eric this car is clearly (and deservedly) one of the highlights of his young life. I'm happy for him, because purchasing his first car has been a long process filled with many false alarms and dashed hopes. He purchased the Celica from it's original owner for only $1000, and it has only 128,000 miles on the odometer. It looks like he got a hell of a deal.
To say that seeing Eric's new car brought back a few memories of my own would be something of an understatment. Most guys remember their first car with a clarity and reverence that is reserved for few other rites of passage. I can barely remember my first girlfriend (or my first wife), but I can remember my first car with uncommon clarity. It was a powder-blue Ford sedan that I bought from my father in 1977 for $53- and it was worth every penny. It was a 4-speed with the gear shift on the column; when the temperature dropped belowed freezing, you couldn't shift, and I'd have to drive to school in second gear. Dad sold it a year later for $140 while I was at Basic Training, but the independence and adulthood that it represented for me far outweighed any financial considerations (and the almost constant mechanical breakdowns).
Eric won't be able to get his license until November, but now he has something to look forward to. Before long, he will no longer be a boy totally dependent on his mother or step-father for transportation. Of course, that indepence will come with a price- we'll be at home trying (and likely failing) not to worry while he's out driving himself around. Ah, the joys of parenthood....
Congratulations, Eric!! You deserve it!
