Sunday, August 19, 2007

On the Road Again


Last week, Tom and I decided to hit the road. You see, things have been a little tense in the Ryan household recently. I’ve been on a two week holiday, while Tom has been working on multiple projects from his home office. Let’s just say Husband and Wife have been in two very different mind sets. Tom has been worried about meeting deadlines – while I’ve been sleeping in, cranking the tunes, looking at old photo’s – and starting, but never finishing several major home projects.

Our relationship was built on road trips. We put over 250,000 miles (miles, not kilometers) on our old Mazda – with our sweet baby boy Tyler riding shotgun in his car seat. The Mazda is long gone and Tyler no longer lives at home. I’m not exactly sure when it happened, but at some point Tom and I became far too busy to bother with road trips.

A couple of years ago I bought a new PT Cruiser convertible, a car that Tom loathed at first sight. You’re probably wondering why a good and dutiful wife would buy a car her husband detested. Like most things in life, it’s a complicated matter.

For starters, Tom didn’t think we needed a car. Vancouver and NYC are very similar in one respect - many people who live in either city choose not to own an automobile. Both have excellent public transit and walking is encouraged. After much “debate”, Tom caved in, and washed his hands of the whole process.

When I came home with “Stella”, he freaked out. According to Tom she looked like a mini-hearse, and he thought that driving a convertible in a temperate rain forest was not exactly a wise move. I told him not to be so silly, the pugs loved riding in the car (even if they did get a little wet).

Most of all, he was worried that people would see him driving Stella and think she was his mid-life crisis car. To have people associate a PT Cruiser - with this special time in his life - was more than he could bear.

I did my best to alleviate his fears - pointing out that Stella was actually quite sporty – and had an excellent safety record (a very important fact as she would sooner or later end up being our son Tyler’s car.) I also pointed out that driving around Vancouver in a blue PT Cruiser - with a bobble-head Pug on the dash - proudly proclaims “I am a man with nothing to prove - and I am quite comfortable with the size of my Johnson!”.

These arguments did not have the affect I was hoping for. Tom continued to hate Stella with a passion – and when he did have to drive her around town, he always wore sunglasses and a hat.

To be continued………

1 comment:

Dil said...

I drive a mini-van. Need I say more?