We welcomed a new member to our clan this weekend, a lovely and blue Honda Pilot. I had been watching and watching and praying that when the right one came up I would know and we would meet, and it would be easy. From the moment I drove her, I didn’t feel scared for the big change to come for a transition and scary paperwork. I got all the details set and we picked her up on Friday afternoon- just in time to drive out to Mariaville for Horse Club and then back to Rotterdam for a Travel Baseball game… she fit right in. I was driving home thinking of what we would call her, maybe Royal or a cool blue name… and then it just popped into my brain ‘and she shall be called Vida’ and poof just like that I knew that I had a new Vida to adventure with.
I am kind of a collector of little signs and symbols and messages… tiny answered prayers and hopes in the weirdest places. I thought that is was perfect that Vida popped into my brain… I thought about all that represents… Vida = Life. I see her as a new life for me, a new adventure, a new direction… we are going to live la vida loco y Bueno y malo and so many different ways. Wait until you all meet Vida… she has a moonroof and she connects to my Pandora so Stevie Nicks or Miranda Lambert or Mumford & Sons are only a click away… and there is space for our gear, for a catchers bag and folding chairs, reusable shopping bags and the dinosaur costume I still need to deliver to Betthany. It.all.fits!
Today I got done with work in time to run Lucy over to warm up for her game and then out to the Horse Barn to pick up meme and get back for the game… and I just thought of how I really love driving her and how fun it is to blast ‘Bluebird’ driving away from the busy and bustling of Rotterdam to the barn. I kept thinking… Erin you have not posted a pic of Vida yet, you should probably get her washed first. I was thinking, though, we are not the shiny clean SUV kind of people… we are the lovey shade of Obsidian Blue and leather seats on the inside- with a light dusting of pollen, a smear of farm road dust and some baseball dust to boot. Don’t get me wrong there are no wrappers or bottles in the car, and for the most part we keep it tidy with a little bit of hot mess. I decided before baseball that I would do a quick post tonight and stick to my goal of writing and sharing more… and just like that God added a bit of comic relief to test my spirit.
Sitting at baseball one of the visiting team hit a nice high fly ball… and we all heard that sound… the sound only a baseball meeting the hood of a car can make. I couldn’t see where or which car was the lucky recipient of an instant dent, with COVID restrictions we sit in BFE to watch. I didn’t need to wonder long… Lucy in the Right out field looked over at me and said ‘Mom that one hit your car’… and just like that I had to make that split second decision BIG deal or LITTLE deal. I told her don’t worry about it, it happens, and remembered my answer when the Finance Guy at the dealership asked me “SO… how long do you plan to keep this car?” and I answered, maybe a bit confused- “Forever… or I mean as long as she can be mine.” I reminded myself that it is a little deal and finished the game.
I kept thinking of my dad and his love for patina, for the life and the softness that leather gets with wear. I value patina… the softness that comes from wear and tear, the story of the leather, or in this case the life. I left baseball feeling like maybe Vida needed a bit of patina, a little bit of extra story for her adventures. I shut the moonroof and the windows, grabbed the water bottles and beef jerky and locked her up… headed into the Musto home and our world of patina and stories, and sentimental and real… and thought…
Es la Vida. Me amo Vida.
Es la Vida…
climbing up the polka dot tree 