Cars with Names

I'm not sure why people name cars. I've mentioned Steve's Expedition - the Yeti - and Cat's Expedition - Sully. I've only named two cars in my life. The first car I ever named was the first car, okay, truck, that I drove. It was a 1963 red step-sided, short-bed Ford pickup. (I'm pretty sure the truck caught Eric's eye and that I just came with it).

I called that pickup Oscar Redfred. I can't remember how that name came about, but, oh, I loved that truck. My big brother drove it for two years, then handed it down to me. I drove it for a couple years till my Dad's buddy gave me his old 1965 Ford Galaxy. I didn't want to give up the truck, but I did. My parents kept it though, and a few years later I started driving it again. Eric and I were in Colorado during the summer of '78 and a friend of ours drove the truck out to me. We used it that whole year, then when we moved back to Washington, we piled it high with all our belongings and towed Eric's 1967 Volkswagon squareback, also filled to the brim, on a week long journey home. My parents said we looked like we came straight out of The Grapes of Wrath when we drove up. We had the truck a while, then in fine family tradition, when my little brother turned 16, passed it on to him. When my sister turned 16, she didn't want anything to do with the truck. It came back to us for a few more years before our family finally gave it up. I wish we had kept it - it was a treasure.

The only other car (in a long series of them) that we have named was a beat up old diesel Volvo sedan. We live up a long, long hill and it always struggled to make it up. Web and Riley started calling it the Slo-vo and it stuck.

By now, you are probably wondering where this post is going...well, we bought a new car on December 30. The only other car I've loved almost as much as Oscar Redfred was our Honda Element. It is the car for me - a perfect fit. We started tossing around the idea of getting a new one several months ago, but it took a while for Eric to check out all the options. I kept telling him I either wanted to keep the 2003 Element or get a new one, but I did not want anything else. I also specified I wanted a green one. Interest rates finally dropped, Eric was finally convinced it was the best buy for us and we got our car.

Still wondering where it is going? Well, Jenny announced last weekend that she had the perfect name for our car: Kermit, Kermie for short. I made the mistake of saying "no way!" Of course, Rob, Steve and Cat were all there and that was all the incentive they needed. They spread the word and everyone is now referring to our car as Kermie. Riley burned a cd of Kermit the frog and someone singing "It isn't easy being green" and left it in the cd player for me as a surprise. Another friend mentioned that it could have been called Pickle and that really convinced me that Kermie isn't so bad. Kermie it is.


My favorite part is this - the car matches my phone (indicative of a true princess)!