New Car!! New Salon Layout!!

YAHOO!! We got a ‘new-to-us’ minivan!! I feel like a REAL mom now. I remind myself of that minivan billboard I saw in the US: “The Myth of the Stay-At-Home-Mom”. Or was it “Stay-At-Home-Mom is an Oxymoron”? Both work.

Our street used to be an ‘old-car-friendly place’. Everyone’s car was old, it probably drove the one neighbor, who sells cars, NUTS! But last year, one-by-one, new cars began to appear. First the Dr. neighbor got a GORGEOUS Mercedes for his wife (which made parking for all of us a delicate dance of centimeters). Then, my landlord caved. His old Toyota was replaced by a Honda SUV (courtesy of the car-selling neighbor). I felt a LITTLE betrayed…but nothing compared to when his father traded in their old Renault for a new Mitsubishi – sold by same neighbor! Was it just my imagination, or was car-selling neighbor staring at our old lady with hands on hips more often?

Perhaps it didn’t help that the new apartment on the street, which is primarily occupied by Iraqis who left after Saddam was captured, looks like a Chevy showroom. Glittering SUVs.  But no, this is not an Iraqi conspiracy post.

Our twenty-year old car has served us well, but after her last ‘open-heart- surgery’, the poor thing couldn’t make it up hills well, and in the summer the old dear would overheat just driving around Idduwwar Iddukhliyya. In the winter, hard to start. She is coming apart at the seams and every other connection… for  mercy’s sake  it was time to  give  her  semi-retirement status. She has worked hard.

It had gotten a little bit embarrassing when doing interviews for articles to pull up in a loud,  faded car. One diplomat house guard didn’t believe I was the lady from the magazine. I had started to park around a corner so no one would see! Her government mandated face-lift (ie: new paint job) last year did improve her appearance. It was very hard for some of my friends to have me drive such an old car, but my days of having my ego attached to what kind of car I drove  are LONG gone. School tuition, orthodontics, and the tickets home, and the looming cost of higher education for take precedence.

Funny thing, this van has been for sale for 18 months. When the guy ( a Jordanian friend) was giving me the hard  sell, it was very cute (“You DESERVE a nicer car!”), but we weren’t in the market for a car and were hoping we could set a record in getting the old lady to 25 years on the road. BUT, I heard the Lord’s voice say: “This is your car. You will drive it”. I said “Lord, is that You? If so, I will wait patiently”. I mentioned the conversation with his friend to hubby, but not the second one with God. I didn’t want him to think God and I had a conspiracy going. I don’t nag my husband for what I want, I just talk to God. He then either works my husband, or gives me contentment without what I think I need.  He is so good, all the time.

So when the price was lowered, my husband said: “What do you think? We don’t know how much longer the old lady will last, and I doubt we will find a better deal then he is offering”. I sweetly agreed.

We are having SO much fun with it! Power EVERYTHING!! I feel like I am flying a plane, not driving. I am a kind of manual transmission snob, I mean, I love the connectedness  to the system when shifting gears; only old ladies have automatics – so now I REALLY  am an old lady, and I love it! It has REAL air conditioning, the other car just had windows! It has a SUNROOF!!! AAHHHH! A CD Player!!! I can’t believe it, music in the car…and I am even listening to radio in Arabic! The only problem is that I have 6cm clearance on either side to get into the driveway…but it makes me a more skilled driver! I am so thankful, Lord, you are GUUURREAT!

This is good news for Jordan as well, as I am driving VERY VERY carefully.

P.S. Oh yea, remember those church ladies I mentioned from the conference in Petra? They came over on a whim and helped me re-arrange my house! It looks, well… elegant! Amazing what another few pairs of eyes can do. Amazing, also the size of ‘dust-bunnies’ that breed under khazaanis, these were even bigger than dust-buffaloes, more like dust dinosaurs!