I pulled into a parking spot this morning and looked around my car. It was quite the hovel.
To be honest, for the most part, it still is.
While on a certain level I was embarassed by what surrounded me, I was more curious about what the contents of my car said or say about me.
When you walk past a car in a parking lot, do you ever catch a glimpse of what's in the car and have a little clue of what that person's life might be like?
Maybe I'm the only one.
Regardless, I thought I'd share a few of the things that you could see if you looked in my car windows....
1. A to-go bag from McDonald's (this was the most embarassing part)
2. My home communion kit
3. The car seat base
4. Bulletins from the past couple of Sundays.
5. The Baby Bjorn baby-carrier
6. An empty Starbucks cup
7. A bib
8. A vintage red Pyrex mixing bowl that I bought at a garage sale that hasn't quite made it in the house.
9. A road map
10. A package of gum
What would I see if I looked in your car?
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Some loose change in the cup holder. Gas receipts scattered about. A garbage bag I placed in the car in a futile attempt to keep it clean. A pile of children's artwork, as well as some that have drifted under the seat. Dum-Dum wrappers. Two carseats. CDs in the door cubbies. An order form from Child 1's school frundraising. A box I was supposed to throw away but which has remained on the very back seat for weeks now. A lighter-powered air pump for my tires. And somewhere the key to the mailbox that I lost many months ago.
Granola bar wrappers. Booster seat. Pens. Markers. Library Books on CD--out of their cases and sliding around. Gas receipts. Lots of crumbs and bits of paper. A bag of old clothes that is trying hard to make it to the Goodwill donation center.
Three days worth of mail that hasn't yet made it into the house. Dog toy - and a lot of dog hair. Several empty Diet Mountain Dew cans, a couple of candy bar wrappers, and few receipts. Two lawn chairs that need to be returned to a church member. A few CDs, mostly in the wrong cases. Pens, change, keys to unknown locks, and my mileage log book.
My car is clean--but don't hate me, because all I did was take the piles and dump them in the apartment. Oh, and please don't look in my trunk.
No, no, Emily, I won't hate you... I would envy your car when I walked past it, though!
Gym bag, extra pair of tennies, yoga mat, various CD's lying about outside their cases, waiting to become flying knives if I have to stop suddenly, an actual paring knife that helps me to use my CD changer buttons since my daughter partially melted my dashboard (don't ask), various protein bar wrappers, spare change,the lipsticks that keep falling out my purse when it gets turned over, waterbottle, travel coffee mug, my portable church office (briefcase), lunch bag, Spare Book of Common Worship, spare Book of Order (you never know when a polity emergency might happen), my big honkin' key chain with all the church's keys on it...etc.
nothing much I'm afraid :(
We have an estate (station wagen) - the back is empty cos the dog travels there.
on the floor of the back seat right now is a plastic bag and inside two music stands that a friend gave me for our church but which haven't been delivered.
and that's it!
In the driver's is an ice scraper and a town parking disc (looks like this http://www.apteekit.org/ilvesapteekki/uploadkuvat/parkkikiekko_kopio.jpg)
when winter comes proper there'll be a long handled brush to handle the snow and on the end of the handle is a scraper too - a God send for a midgit like me :)
and you'll also find a large packet of tissues (kleenex) and a pen next to the gear stick.
told you it was boring even though I tried to make it as interesting as possible.
The inside of my car is so scary that I can't even begin to describe it...not really gross stuff like food, mind you, but...paperwork from work; shoes -- lots of shoes (Be Prepared, I say); jackets and sweaters. And -- I am also carting around boxes of used cell phones that some "kind" organization donated to my agency. We do not need more donated cell phones. If I see another cell phone I am going to scream. The local kids' soccer league is collecting them, so every couple of days I dump a few more boxes in the collection barrel.
lol!
handcream and hair ties in the dash compartment
a box of kleenex
a box with old video tapes for my daughter
my granddaughter's birthay present (dora sheets, dora blanket, winnie the pooh snowsuit)
a basket filled with files
my briefcase
tigger floormats!
a bag with five Bibles i found for 1.99 each! great find
Huh. two garbage bags of very old tupperware. several sets of old sheets. a toolkit and emergency roadside kit. A first aid kit. A fire extinguisher. a power inverter where you plug it into the lighter and you can plug in regular plugs (like the computer). LOTS of CDs. Karate gear. Seashells in the pockets behind the driver. A large stash of rubber balls. This afternoon -- 18 antique ammo boxes (don't ask). Four umbrellas. Oh, and books.
The Car Prayer Book, Bible and Diocesan and Parish directories. These things live in the car.
On the back seat and floor:
1.Three empty diet coke and
2.two empty TJ water bottles.
3. One Clericool collar.
4. Gym bag.
5. Sweatshirt that has been worn to rowing practice one time too many.
6. Communion kit and white stole (which needs to go to the dry cleaner),
7. Palm PDA (that's where it was!)
How did you know I cleaned out the back seat today?
This thread made me suddenly aware of what a difference there is between NYC and so much of the rest of the country in which people have no choice but to rely on their cars to get around, and therefore use them so much. I live in north Manhattan and keep a car, but it has nothing in it (other than the insurance card, an EZ Pass and a few maps) because I'm only in the car occasionally --once a week or even less frequently. On the other hand, my backpack, which travels up and down to work on mass transit every day becomes overloaded with the very same things, both essential and detritus, that others find in their cars -- the last few Sunday's bulletins, the occasional empty water bottle, the current bills which I carry around till I get a chance to write the checks, the music I need to memorize for the annual church benefit concert, the daily newspaper and a magazine and/or novel in case the newspaper doesn't last the length of the commute, post-its, paper clips, pens and highlighters, my Swiss Army knife, etc., etc.
The difference is only one of quantity because that backpack on my shoulders just can't hold as much as that car on four wheels, so every morning I have to decide what to carry and what to jettison.
And I look at that as a blessing, in the same way apartment life is a blessing -- it helps me in the constant struggle not to accumulate too much stuff because I just have no room for it.
You would see evidence of my last three meals -- it's not usually this bad, but today I ate breakfast lunch and supper on the run!
Mine: Oxford Annotated NRSV Bible, leather bound journal for Important Thoughts (and food shopping lists),a mystery novel on CD for listening while I commute, the new Bonnie Raitt CD when the commute gets too painful, half-empty water bottle, travel cup half-filled with green tea, wrappers from a couple of low-carb bars, parking tag, quarters for parking, a bit of Palm Sunday palm, nationwide road atlas, assorted small change permanently lodged in the electric seat-moving mechanism.
PH's car: a box of Kleenex and the key to the locking bike rack on top.
Thus the essential difference between men and women, or at least him and me. On the other hand, my car is washed and his is not. I'm sure there's a sermon there...
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