September 14, 2015
Anticipation Makes for Life's Thrills

My car had a rather important milestone this weekend. I guess you could say that I was involved in that turning point as well.  After all, we two have been through a whole lot of living these past few years, and a happening like this is just too important not to take notice.

I had been anticipating with mixed emotions, that moment.  Trepidation, of course, much like when you greet yet one more birthday, ticking off yet another year of life's experience.  Pride, that we've both endured countless obstacles and survived, earning the right to brag a bit.  Sorrow, for the loss of youth that is oh so fleeting yet at the same time ignorant and inexperienced.

It was a moment in time, indeed.  Much like the time spent waiting for that special day to arrive.  Like counting the hours until Christmas or the wee hours New Year's eve.  It's the anticipation that means so much after all.  As I drove down the road that night, I was aware of the approaching moment yet somehow let my mind wander....almost past that important point - the apex - the main event.  I happened to glance down at the dash board and it read 199,998.  

It was then that I realized that fast approaching was a moment that would never again be.  Like the first fledgling steps of your child, or his first utterance of understandable communication, ("Da-daaaa"), or the date 11-12-13.  There's just no mistaking the fact that it's a significant point in time. And you can never get that time back again.  Ever.

By the time that I noticed the odometer reading, I figured I better pull over and think about things a bit.  Contemplate the meaning of it all in that few seconds that I had left.  And so I did.  But, like anything worth waiting for, it seemed like the fractions of the miles it would take to inch that number into a new era took forever.  But then awaiting the stroke the new year can seem to take forever too.  

Of course I had to record that moment in time on my camera.  Like anything else, just like those first beautiful smiles of your baby, I felt the obligation.  And so I sat on the side of the road snapping photographs of my odometer reading just as it inched into a new era.  It reminded me a bit of the frenzied welcoming of the year 2,000.  We all faced that moment with a sense of fear and anticipation. What was to come, how odd it would be to pronounce the new millennium's name, and would the sky still be hanging above when we awoke on January 1 of that new year? 

We survived that time.  And I'm happy to report that (so far) my car is still running fine even at its advanced age.  I have much respect for her and we will continue to take good care of one another.  After all, there's a whole lot of miles of road between the two of us.  And plenty of milestones as well.