Dream cars

Whether they realize it or not, everybody wants a dream car. What makes a dream car? It depends who you ask. It's pretty subjective, depending on a person's taste (or lack of it), their knowledge of cars or maybe even their background. Money, however, is no object. These are dream cars after all.

Jim has been hinting for at least a year that he wants our next vehicle (the one after one of the current ones dies -- keep fingers crossed) to be a Jeep. I tell him he is too young for a mid-life crisis vehicle. It's so impractical. It can only seat two and the gas mileage would require one of us to get a second job.

I guess part of me is just jealous of his dream because I know he'll get one in a stick and I'll never be able to drive it!

I've always been partial to a Mustang or Corvette -- something hot and sporty in this one particular shade of orangish-yellow I like. (Not that I've been thinking about it.) But these days I'm thinking something a little "taller," something I can sit in to see over the dash. Something practical (sort of) yet sporty and manageable in size (more like a Toyota Rav4 than a Hummer).

Today Carter found a dream car or two or two hundred. I took him to the Iola Old Car Show. We cruised around the grounds on our staff golf cart and he got to see a cool Dodge Avenger and some '57 Corvettes. He used my employee discount to buy 6 car books and was thrilled to meet the guy who authored half of his purchases.

Thumbing through the books on the way home, I kept hearing "Wow!" and "Cool!" coming from the back seat. When we pulled into our garage, he informed me he now has 254 dream cars (I think he counted every one in the Ferrari book!).

The big boys like the cool cars they see on TV mainly. They also think our minivan rocks! I kid you not. At some point in time, while they were young and susceptible, Daddy convinced them that the Windstar rules the road.

Every time he'd pass someone, he'd whisper loudly: "Winddd-staaarrrrr!" Now, all the boys do it unison when we're on road trips. I just smile and think to myself how great it is they still humor Dad even if they've stopped believing.

Or maybe they haven't. What makes a dream car? One man's Windstar may be another man's Ferrari.

Dream on ...