My first car was a four
door 1964 Plymouth Valiant. It was light blue with big old white wall
tires. I don't remember too much else about the car, only that power
windows had not been invented yet and that if I went through a puddle
of water, the car would stop. It seems as though there was a design
flaw, that being the placement of the alternator in the engine was
near the bottom of the engine block, too close to the road and when
it got wet, the car would shut down. OK. Before someone else says
it...it was a fair weather car.
And who can forget that
a gallon of gas was just 31 cents.
Despite the little
quirks, the car got me back and forth to college in West Virginia for
several years, out on dates in Fair Lawn, N.J and most of the time,
on time to summer jobs, except when it was raining of course. It
served its purpose.
Fast forward to late 2016. I
recently bought a new car, at least new to me. It is just a bit over
a year old with low mileage and is nothing like that 1964 blue
Valiant. Yes, it has power windows and I don't think it will stop
running in the rain. Tucked somewhere inside the radio, I guess, is
something called 'Bluetooth' that allows me to talk on my cell phone
without it leaving my pocket. I don't even have to dial a number. I
push a little green button on the steering wheel and this voice asks
me what number I want to call. Cool!
Heated seats are nice,
especially in colder climates and rear hatches on SUV's that pop open
with the touch of the key are great when your arms are full of
grocery bags. But what I really like is the backup camera.
Now I am not getting
any younger and one of the things I am finding is that my mobility is
not quite what it use to be. Sure. I can still swing a golf club or
throw a tennis ball for the dog. I can still look in the rear view
mirror or turn my head to the left or right when I am ready to back
the car out of the garage or from one of those tiny parking spaces at
the mall. But what I have found is that the backup camera really does
help, with an addition view, although it does take a bit of getting
use to.
Put the car in 'R' and
a picture immediately appears on a screen in the dashboard. Now, the
first time I did this, the car salesperson was standing immediately
behind the car, his face just inches away from the camera. He laughed
and I screamed. He is pretty scary to look at, even in the camera.
But after some
practice, the camera has become a helpful driving tool. In the
garage, I start the car, shift it into reverse, after I have opened
the garage door of course, and I get a full picture of my driveway
and the neighbor’s house across the street. I sure won't back into
his house now, not that I ever did.
With some degree of
ease and feeling a bit more aware of those things going on around me,
I now slip in and out of parking places at the grocery store, the
local Dunkin Donuts and Walmart. I still adjust the rear view mirror,
and look behind me to the left and the right before stepping on the
gas, but the camera does add another level of safety.
There have been a lot
of changes in cars and trucks since my first 1964 Plymouth Valiant.
Power window, heated seats, backup cameras are only a few of the
innovations designed to make the journey through life a bit easier,
more comfortable and safer.
We know that sometimes
when we drive, we need to backup in order to move forward and get to
where we want to go. Life in general is like that also. That backup
camera inside the car gives us not only a picture of where we have
been, but also where we need to go before moving forward.
The same holds true
for life outside the car. While we don't have our own electronic
backup camera, we probably have something just as good. I think we
call that 'life's experiences', lessons and memories. It may not be
quite like what we see on the screen of the backup camera on the
dashboard of the car, the things we remember can often remind us of
what's behind us, where we have been and where we are may be headed.
And as for that new
backup camera? Already I wonder how I have managed to get along
without it for so long. Whoa! How did that shopping cart get there?
