I like things that last. They become a sign of dependability, and involuntarily, become a living chronicle of one's ownership of them.
Take for example my car above - my 1998 Mazda 626 I've long dubbed Champagne for its color, which was inherently more appealing than the color's official name (driftwood). It was not my first car, and it isn't the last or latest of vehicles I've owned, but it is the one that I've held the longest ownership of. I didn't even purchase or pick it out myself; as with a lot of things in my youth, the car was a hand-me-down from my brother who used to own it, up until he finished his Naval service and bought himself his dream car (2000 Honda Prelude Type SH). But I did make it my own, and even through burning out its first transmission and replacing it, the car has yet to leave me stranded on the side of the road. Ever.
Over 200,000 miles of my life are proudly displayed in its odometer. And still counting.
If memory serves me correctly, the two photos above of the same car were taken around a decade apart. That means I'm barely out of my teens and into my 20's in the photo on top, and now out of my 20's and into my 30's in the photo on the bottom.
A lot can be surmised just by looking at my car's growth rings between the two photos. The car has looked its best, and every year only serves to add some more wear and tear. But each and every one of them is simply a growth ring - it's tree-ring - to remind me time and time again of what we've gone through.
I'm not a car guy by any means, and truth be told, all the modifications I did to my car early on in my ownership of it were more "foibles of my youth" rather than a testament to being a car-afficionado. But how can you not appreciate an otherwise inanimate object that has literally AND figuratively carried you and your family for most of your life?
Champagne has more than paid for herself, and if the day were to come that I can no longer drive her, I will be heartbroken but understandably proud of how far she has carried me through. However, if she treks on for perhaps another decade, perhaps another quarter of a million miles, long enough for me to perhaps teach my daughter how to drive for the very first time...
...I would truly be at a loss for words then of how grateful I'll be of this car's dependability and perpetual service.
