Once upon a time a young man bought his first car. He had spent a good deal of time researching to make sure he got just the right one. He even test drove a few cars to see if he liked how they handled. But, eventually a certain car caught his eye and he fell in love&#8230;he made all the proper arrangements and soon was able to drive his new car home.<p>This car had everything he wanted. It made him tingle and smile just to think of the car. He bragged to everyone within earshot about this car&#8230;its color&#8230;its fuel efficiency&#8230;its ride. He loved everything about this car&#8230;even its quirky colored seats. And, did he spend a lot of time on his car&#8230;washing it, caring for it&#8230;making sure its tuning was just so&#8230;making sure all the fluid levels were correct&#8230;he kept his car in &#8216;mint&#8217; condition&#8230;over the years he even added few upgraded options&#8230;air conditioning&#8230;cd player&#8230;<p>As life happened, the young man got busier and had less time to spend on his car&#8230;he still took care of it, but the times between the caring lengthened&#8230;the times between the tune-ups lengthened&#8230;and, as happens with cars as it aged some things started to need replacing or fixing&#8230;small things at first, easily taken care of and not to expensive&#8230;<p>The young man, now older, started to notice other cars now&#8230;noticing the options they had that his car did not&#8230;and he started to get a little dissatisfied&#8230;now whenever something needed fixing or replacing it irritated the man. He noticed every ding on the exterior and every stain on the interior. He didn&#8217;t spend as much time on his car&#8230;he took it to carwashes instead of lovingly washing it himself&#8230;so the car wasn&#8217;t entirely neglected&#8230;and in actuality the car served him well&#8230;his earlier loving of the car meant fewer mechanical problems.<p>Then one day, the man noticed an expensive model of a car&#8230;it was used&#8230;had had a couple of other owners, but looked to be in perfect condition&#8230;he imagined himself whizzing down the freeway in the &#8216;new&#8217; car. He sighed and got into his car&#8230;the quirky colored seats now nauseated him&#8230;the cd player started to skip and would not play his music correctly&#8230;he drove unhappily home dreaming of the other car.<p>The next day he was surprised to see a SALE sign on the &#8216;new&#8217; car&#8230;he excitedly inquired about the car&#8230;it&#8217;s options&#8230;its mileage (high)&#8230;how many owners (3)&#8230;but he didn&#8217;t really listen&#8230;didn&#8217;t ask about reliability or problems the car might have&#8230;all he could see was the beauty of the car and himself driving it&#8230;what an improvement over what he had&#8230;so he traded his old car for the new one&#8230;<p>At first he was extremely happy&#8230;the car was a real beauty and people noticed him driving it&#8230;they complemented him. &#8220;Got rid of that eyesore, I see.&#8221; Now, he&#8217;d never really thought of his old car as an eyesore, but he agreed. He went to register the car at DMV and spent quite awhile there during the title search&#8230;it seemed that there were more owners than he had been told&#8230;and there were some outstanding DMV fees&#8230;finally though, he got it all straightened out&#8230;but not before it cost him a little extra time and money.<p>Now, because he was older and in the habit of letting others care for his car, he continued to go to carwashes and let the time between tune-ups and other mechanical checkups go long&#8230;and it didn&#8217;t take long before a major problem occurred with his &#8216;new&#8217; car.<p>He took it to a mechanic who shook is head&#8230;hemmed awhile&#8230;then told him how expensive the repair was going to be. The man was sick&#8230;but he peeled off the correct amount of bills and paid for the repair&#8230;from then on problems seemed to surface daily and the man thought longingly of his old car&#8230;it had had its problems but never this many, nor of this magnitude. The man also noticed other things&#8230;how high the mileage was&#8230;that it didn&#8217;t seemed to have been well cared for&#8230;and that certain other problems had been hidden. <p>All the man could think was that he had traded in his old car which had had only one owner and whose problems he knew and understood for a car with multiple owners, high mileage, and many hidden mechanical problems&#8230;what had he been thinking?<p>Indeed.

Yeah really...
You already have a mess, work on it... Why go out and dig up a whole new mess????????? Fix the mess you've got--at least you already know what sort of mess you're dealing with!!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif" border="0[/img]

Very apt!<p>Here's a shorty:<p>When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is STOP DIGGING!<p>K

Thanks TA .... <p>Very good analogy. It's too sad most people have to live it in order to learn it. Some folks more than once too.<p>Love to you, M.<p>Jo

Oooops, BTDT made me think of something. Is this about you or him?<p>Of course, you can only fix your mess, not his... and he has to do the same...<p>I don't know what I'm thinking.<p>Jeffers

I want to add to this story..... you not surprised right? LOL!!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif" border="0[/img] <p>.....The original car has history and many happy memories. Unlike 'my mother the car', this car shared periods of romance, joy, love, baby events (bottles, diapers, car seats, blankets, toys, etc.), many MacDonal's happy meals and the free toys. There is much more that this car has in it's long and memorable life. The car is still in top running order and has been able to adapt with this growing family. Ever changing to accmodate all who enjoy it's company. <p>Now let's add another piece. While there have been periods where the car did require maintenance. The vehicle has performed well. It has the great potential of becoming a 'classic'. <p>Let's compare it to the so called 3 time loser/owner lemon that looks good but runs rough. It doesn't know how to go into reverse. It's seat covers look well oiled but there is a lot of garbage under the seat and in the trunk. Why look, pull the seat up and you will find a beer bottle from 1975!!! Kinda sticky down there also. What's that smell?!?!?! Oh yuck, dirty kleenex, used uhmmmm c-doms..... oh the list goes on. This particular model while it could have been a classic is doomed for the wrecking yard. Not if, only a matter of when. This car is soon to be abandoned by those who grew up in it. Ahh.... yes, dress it up and some shlum will buy it but only keep it for a while and then that same shlum will wonder why he threw his hard earned $$$ away on such a lemon. <p>Now I am no authority on cars. So my descriptions are limited. I am sure that if it were me, I would take my first car to a 3rd party and get it detailed and tune-up. It will purrrr perfectly. The other car, I would junk.....maybe some other sucker would like it? Oooh. I can't be that mean. Just send it to those places where they send junk cars and at least get a tax write off!!!! <p>L.

thanks for additions Orchid...this is a work in progress...

Wow TA, that was really good. I am glad you are writing more...<p>BTW, I think the "lemon" should get sent to one of those junkyards where they crush the cars with that big "car-eating machine"... he he...<p>LOL,
HbH

Tyring Again,<p>I think the old car should be snatched up by a new owner who could not believe his incredible luck to have found such an amazing vehicle; he had been looking for just such a vehicle his whole life and was beginning to think he would never find her.<p>Okay, not very MB, I know. [img]images/icons/wink.gif" border="0[/img] <p>OneDay<p>p.s. I also replied on the MOM's thread in recovery, replying to one of your posts there.

Okay, TA. . . On first glimpse, seemed like a great analogy. But try this on for size:<p>Once upon a time, there was a man. He went out and leased a car. The car was nice, but it was a "new" model--one of those cars that is in the first couple of years of production. So it had a few quirks. You know the kind I mean--bizarre little misfunctions, like non-working vents, that while they don't make the car completely unusable, they certainly detract from its perfection.<p>The man grew to love the car. He took pretty good care of it for the first couple of years, and in return, it served him well. When the lease expired, he decided to purchase it.<p>As time passed, the quirks that the car had became more and more annoying to the man. He didn't know how to fix them, but sometimes they really made it hard for him to enjoy driving the car. So he started walking occasionally. He also started neglecting his car--he figured "hey, why should I put any work into it--I can't fix those problems that were built right into it." In return, his poor little car started breaking down more frequently. Occasionally, it even left him stranded (much as he occasionally left it without gas).<p>As more time passed, the man grew more and more resentful of the quirks (some of which were now full-blown problems). He was still fond of the car--it had a lot of memories. It had taken him a lot of places, and he had put a lot of effort into keeping it. But he began to wonder why he had a car at all--it was such a pain in the butt to keep running!<p>He started walking more and more. He kept the car, but it spent a lot of time in the garage. Occasionally, he would take it out to go on a trip, and become nostalgic for the days when he had first started leasing the car--how it had shined when he brought it home! He realized that a large part of the reason that the car was in such poor condition was his fault--pure neglect. That made him feel even more guilty, and he would quickly put the car back in the garage.<p>One day, the man saw this other car. It looked nice, and he took it out for a test drive. He thought he might like to own one like it, so he went to Rent-A-Wreck and rented one for a day, to "test-it-out." Wow! He got that "rush" feeling, just like he used to have with his old car! He went back to Rent-A-Wreck and took that car out a few more times. As time passed, though, he realized that buying a different model of car wasn't going to really release him from problems--this new car had just as many (or more) problems as his old car.<p>So now the man is in a stitch. His old car, though full of memories, has put him through so much hassle throughout the years. Much like the car in Christine, though, his old car has a mind of its own, and has started taking itself out for gas, taking itself to the car-wash, and even changing its own oil. It's becoming more and more user-friendly and hassle free. But the man doesn't really trust it.<p>He also realizes he doesn't really like that rental model either--buying it would be exchanging a headache for a heart attack.<p>So what's a man to do? He'd like to just scrap both cars, and start over. But he feels sentimental attachment and loyalty to his first car, and it's been being so much more reliable lately. . .<p>Okay, TA, how's that? Hope you don't mind my input. :

Gee HHH...are we sisters or what...??? <p>I LOVE IT.<p>Sis

Hiya TA<<p>Howz the car?<p>L.

It has a few knocks...been dented pretty good...in need of a good mechanic (MC?) for a tune-up...but it is running...kinda amazing somedays.