New Car?

Nah... just a newly clean car.  When my son Dan and his family were visiting, my daughter-in-law Carrie took each of our cars to a local carwash as a surprise for us. She was the one surprised (and amazed) when we did not notice until two days later. Carrie had had the car washed on a Friday. On Sunday, when I was picking my son Alex up from his group care home, the staff looked out the front door and marveled, "New car? Beautiful!" It was only then that I noticed the difference. Yeah, the car did look great. It was a big difference. I am far from fastidious about my vehicle even though I am quite proud of its bright red color. I can be even more appreciative being made aware that the color shines magnificently better when clean. Dan and Carrie had a laugh that I had not noticed until someone else pointed it out. At home, parked in my driveway, the next door neighbor came out of her house and remarked, "New car? Nice." It gets better. 

One week later on the next Sunday, when I picked up Alex again to go bowling he tried to plant his adult butt in the car seat that had been there for his 4-year-old niece. I'd forgotten the seat was still in the back. See? I can be pretty non-observant. Once back in my own driveway, I tried to remove the car seat. I could unfasten the seat belt restraining portion, but I did not have the finger strength to depress the latch hook that tethers the seat to rear anchor. Seeing my neighbor out at his mailbox I called out "Hey, Ray. Do you have strong fingers? Can you unhook this car seat for me?". He obliged, but said as he walked over "New car? Sure is snazzy".

Later that same week I was at the checkout at Office Depot. The clerk looked out the front window where my car was parked. "Do you love your Avalon? Is that the newest model year? Nice lookin' car." I guess my initial excitement and insistence on a Supersonic Red color for my new car had been well worth the determination four years ago. Here is my post from 6/21/2021 about buying that car.

All this praise encouraged me to keep up the shiny clean vibe. Two weeks ago I took my car back to Autopia in Livermore and renewed the shiny new car mystique.

So Carrie has now introduced me to better car hygiene. Thanks, Carrie. Today I even took Frank's Toyota Rav 4 to get washed and spiffed up. There are no more cobwebs on the side view mirrors.