What’s in YOUR car??

Just as your home is reflective of all that you are and all that you choose to be, so it is with your car. I get in my car and always think how much like home it is to me! We spend the majority of our time in it, now don’t we? It’s somewhat like a second home. I am constantly reminded every time I jump in my traveling barnacle, that it displays all the characteristics of my personality. Think about it. Next time you get in your car…take a look around.

My dearest friends have cars that show the essence of their existence:

For example:

One has the latest brand spanking new Honda Pilot…. Well furnished with all the high tech sparks that can do everything but her laundry. It’s sparkling clean at all times, even though she has three, yes THREE active kids that she rides around throughout the crazy week of activities and school runs. I could eat off the ground of that thing! It’s exactly reflective of her gorgeous home and her beautiful fashion sense and exquisite taste. She is the “mom that has it all” but is also “the friend who gives it all”.

Another dearest friend has a car that I don’t know the make or year, but boy does it have character! Any time I need a ride, I know it will take a good ten minutes for her to clear out the passenger front seat so I can fit. It resembles something from a “Hoarders gone wild” scenario. She is brilliant and keen on insight and perhaps uninterested in keeping up with petty things like the stuffed trunk or the boxes full of storage supplies from last year. If I need a snack, I may find some leftovers somewhere just to nibble on at any time. She is one of those friends that will stick to the end. Her insight is always spot on, as her commitment to our friendship is as deep as the collection of things in her car!

Now for my car:

I drive a 12-year-old Honda CRV. It is red, and the steering wheel has a leopard cover that my daughter picked out just for me. (SO not me) I have many different things dangling from my rear view mirror:

Spongebob wind chime: My daughter made with a craft kit.
Red shiny plastic Cross: From my daughter’s preschool graduation. (5 years ago)
A beaded necklace: My son made for me with all sorts of neat “boy beads” like airplanes and such.
About five different necklaces and bracelets: Made from different kids. To be honest, can’t remember where they all came from. But I know at one time, they were a special gift from a special kid….so I keep them.

I have a snack tub full of granola bars and fruit snacks for the kids. I have another snack bin full of Mike n Ikes, peanuts, water, Diet Coke, Diet 7up, and Vitamin water…for me. I have a trash bag half filled with snot tissues and wrappers, mostly falling all over the floor of the front passenger side, because my son likes to “shoot hoops” to the front garbage bag with his snotty tissues. I have two kinds of peppermint gum (for me), two kinds of bubble gum (for the kids), lifesaver mints, Carmex lip balm (for me), Chapstick Sun-block (for kids), Pony tails, Rubber bands, spare change- in all the little holders and compartments you find around the front of the car. My glove compartment holds an extra pair of sunglasses (I ALWAYS lose mine), a five-dollar bill, and papers that I have no idea what they are but I’m sure they came with the car (12 years ago). I have cd’s of Justin Beiber, Miranda Cosgrove, Britt Nicole, and various kid artists. I also have a few sermons from church on cd that the kids sometimes let me listen to, on a good day.

Now to the back seat:
My kids have a tub in the middle of their seats full with:
Water bottles
Cheez-Its
Kleenex
Antibacterial wipes
And leftover trash that never made it to the bag up front.

There are tons of wrappers and crumbs that I try to clean out when it grosses me out to no end, then I finally take it in and dump everything, wipe clean and put new stuff in it.

They have their Mp3 players in the front pockets with an assortment of markers and stupid little toys that they forget about. There are crumbs all over the seats that have been embedded in the fabric for months, since our shop-vac broke. The floor is layered with mud, leaves, snow and rain. There are crumbs grinded in through months of eating snacks and meals that make awful messes which solidify each layer. I just don’t look there, or I will get sick. Ignorance is best in these situations. I gave up trying to keep it clean when the shop-vac broke. Maybe someday…spring perhaps.

Now to the back hatch:
There is a shriveled up pink balloon from some birthday party months ago…can’t remember when. There are umbrellas, park toys (for that impromptu park and play), A bag with wet wipes, sun-block, and other useful things for the pool (yes, it’s February in Ohio), my daughter’s diaper bag (yes, she’s eight) filled with an assortment of ill-fitting clothes that I haven’t checked in months, (for that unplanned spill or potty accident), a top to a 18 gallon tub (?) and some sweatshirts (in case we need another layer). I believe there is a pair of gym shorts in a ball for that impromptu gym fly by as well.

The car’s exterior is filthy. Why clean it when it’s just gonna rain or snow again soon? However, there are those little cling-on stickers on each side of the car portraying each of my kids: One football stud, and one dancer. They begged me to get one, but as I searched these little stickers…I have yet to find a mom sticker that depicts my style: A woman in her pajamas with her hair tussled up in a pony tail and deep circles under her eyes. I only see the “chef mom” or the “work mom” or the “aerobics cutie pie mom” or the “shopping mom”…none of which resemble me at all.

So there you have it. “My world in a car”. What does your world look like?

For me: I am pretty organized, over-prepared in an OCD kinda way, somewhat neglectful of filthy areas I choose to ignore, creative, fun, compassionate, junky, a little lazy, well nourished, a bit frugal, and under paid, apparently not into fashion, and more into comfort, possibly too frazzled to notice the details in all that surrounds me.

My husband says if we ever got stranded for weeks on end in my car…we would surely survive.

He’s right.

You should see my house! Just run over here if the nuclear missiles strike. We’ll be good for a year or two.