Sunday, April 13, 2008

Numbers Don't Lie

I went to get my auto emissions test on Saturday. The guy at the testing station looked at my ten year old Honda CRV and said:
"Do you like this car?"
"I love it, " I said
"Yeah, everyone who comes in with one says the same thing -- they love it; reliable, comfortable."
"I've had it for about 6 years, and it's never broken down." (I hope I didn't jinx myself by saying that, I thought.)
"It's all you need, he said. "Put a lot of money into a new car and drive it for a little while. Before you know all you have is an old car like everybody else."

I'm turning 40 in a few weeks and I've been stressing about it. Generally, birthdays don't bother me, but this one is eating at me a bit. I always tell people a birthday is just a number, and that I've never really wanted to be a younger age. These days though, the gray hair and the balding head are harder and harder to ignore. I distracted myself today with a big moment in my Honda's life:


I noticed that I was very close to having my odometer turn over on the way to my emissions test. I promised myself I was going to see the event. On a winding road on the way to church I watched very carefully ... 99,999 ... then 100,000! How ridiculous would it be if I ran it a ditch or a mailbox because I was looking at my odometer turn to 6 digits? I pulled into the first side street I could to take a photo. Then I drove to church.

My odometer now reads 100008. Car doesn't feel any different than it did at 98,000 or 99,000. Same old reliable vehicle. Maybe 100,000 is just a number.