fix or repair daily.

for those of you who know me, you know my love/hate relationships with my cars.

i loved the blue beast i drove in high school. at that point, i was just ecstatic to own a car, period. i loved the freedom associated with having a car. i loved road trips, cottage weekends and going to school when i wanted. it gave me a sense of mobility that i have always craved, and probably took it slightly for granted. we certainly put WAY more money into the blue taurus then we should have. it broke down regularly, and often had expenses in the thousands of dollars to fix. i am sure that over the years we put way more money into the car than it was ever worth. i always vowed i would never own a ford again.

last year, when the blue beast finally died after a long and painful death, i couldn't imagine life without a car. i immediately went car shopping with an i'll-deal-with-the-consequences-later type of attitude. however, i realized i couldn't afford to lease, rent or buy a car... i would have run out of my available credit. i felt so trapped and discouraged. i know having a car is a luxury, but it was a luxury i had had for six years!

eventually, a set of circumstances led to the fleming's inheriting yet another ford taurus, at a low cost. dad drove it for awhile, but being a 1993, it wasn't in the greatest of conditions. a red interior (sexy), broken heat and regular maintenance was frustrating for him. when dad finally got the car of his dreams (certainly NOT a ford!), i inherited the aformentioned red taurus. how lucky have i been in this lifetime? not one, but two ford taurus'! about every two months, like clockwork, something goes wrong with the car. i keep deciding, against my better judgement, to pump money into the car when it should probably be heading to the dump. but, living far from campus in kingston and needing regular transportation to ottawa make it very difficult to consider being car-less.

just the other day i found out that my oil pan rotted through. i have been told that this is not actually the worst thing that could happen, but at 450 dollars it certainly feels pretty rough. i can handle fixing or repairing daily, i just hope it is never found on road dead. cross your fingers that i make it all the way to toronto this weekend. however, if you do happen to see a '93 red taurus on the side of the 401, please stop to help!