Her name is Trusty Rusty.
She's the car my parents so graciously gave me on my 16th birthday. She's a rusty orange 1999 Ford Escort. My husband uses her as his work car now - since he so sweetly sold his beloved Dodge pick-up truck to feed his very young and growing family a few years back. (God bless his diesel lovin' heart.) While she is now used as something to get back and forth to work in - old Rusty used to be pretty special, y'all.
Let me give you a mental picture of what she once was:
Rusty only had a couple hundred miles on her when I drove her home the first time. She had a sunroof and a cool six-disc CD player. She had ballet slippers hanging from her review mirror and a glittery "Daddy's Girl" sticker on the back window. The glove box was filled with notes and bubble gum. Her trunk was full of high-schooly things like a letterman's jacket, textbooks (that I probably should have cracked open a bit more), track spikes, dance clothes, blankets , and jumper cables (just in case). And, of course, she had a leopard print steering wheel cover.
I loved her.
This past weekend, my husband wanted to spend some time tinkering with some farm equipment while hanging out with our son. If you read this post, you will know that tinkering with farm equipment is not a hankerin' I get real often - so I decided to go shopping a bit. Since my husband had my son - I let him keep our family car with the toddler seat in it. This means that while my hubby was spending time with our son - I got to spend some time sportin' around town in old Rusty. I was pumped.
I put some work out clothes on (because these days that is what is comfortable AND that is what fits), braided my hair into pigtails (a hairstyle I dawned often in my Escort years), grabbed a couple of Peanut M&M's (a pregnant woman's fav), and hit the road. In my typical fashion, I turned up the music real loud, and sang my heart out - just like I used to. It made me feel like Kate again. Not the Mom. Not the wife. Not the pregnant lady. Just Kate.
And that was nice.
While I wouldn't trade being a wife or mommy for anything - it was nice to just be me for a few hours - listening to music as loud as I wanted and eating M&M's.
These days - it doesn't take much to make my day - its all about the little things. And just getting away for a few hours with Trusty Rusty made all the difference.
Have a nice Monday :)
