Show and Shine.

Before I knew how to drive, I had an image of the car I would purchase. It was going to be a sleek black sports car, a fast and cute companion to reflect my personality and my love of adventure. The cute car above would fit the bill.

I never owned a car like this. My husband did, before I knew him, before our lives were ever in one space together. By the time I was able to purchase a car, my meager finances and this VW were in sync. This car lasted me/us many years. This particular car in the Rotary's Annual Show and Shine looks exactly like mine.

I wonder how they managed to keep it so shiny and new.

Before we bought the VW, I might add, as newlyweds we bought this Camaro. The old Oldsmobile died on us on Ventura Blv. in Encino. What we did was push it to the curb, and walk right across the street to a Chevrolet dealer. When they asked us what we had to trade, we pointed to our clunker across the street. The salesman felt sorry for us, he said. He was willing to pay us for the brand new tires on the Olds.

We had one car for many years. ( The Camaro had a glamorous engine death after only 69 thousand miles.) When we finally bit the bullet__it was an ultimatum bullet, our marriage was in peril, __we bought two Mitsubishi cars, tiny things to replace the VW that had not survived its fifth new engine.

I've always admired old cars, old houses, old silver. Unfortunately, admiration is not enough here. Old machines need care and upkeep, more so than new machines. Neither my husband or I are good at up keeping.

We are back to driving just one car, a big SUV. Without this beast we could not live in this far out, isolated place. Without it, we could not make runs to Coos Bay for weekly loads of groceries distributed to needy families.

Like clocks, cars have kept track of the times in our lives, the dreams, the disappointments.