No new car for me?

All this talk of a new car for Matt was starting to make me want a new car of my own, and I had almost justified it in my head. After all, my car's been through a lot too. It has 135,000 miles on it at only 8 years old, has been repainted twice, and has numerous minor dings plus one torn-up front left bumper. (My fault, tall curb.) Its GPS system is broken, the AC is starting to lose its kick, and it won't play made CDs, which are my favorite kind.

Anyway, yesterday I dropped it off for an oil change because it was 11,000 miles past due. (First I took off the sticker from the last oil change -- which was done in October -- because I was ashamed for the mechanic to see it.) This was not my usual oil-changer; I went to one that was nearby and quick so I could have it done during lunch with no hassle.

When I paid I found out that this place gives you a free car wash with every oil change, so I drove through the car wash. Just a quickie, but it helped a lot. Meanwhile I noticed they had also vacuumed the floors and wiped down my dashboard and console after changing the oil. Nice!

Then I took a closer look at my invoice and saw that they had recommended flushing my radiator fluid and changing my air filter. I thought that could be a key to improving my AC and might even make my "maintenance required" light go off (right on both counts). So I went back inside, gave them the keys again and read outside for half an hour.

As I drove back to the office in my shiny, clean car, with frigid air blowing on my face (but with the sunroof open too because I like the ambiance), I started to love my car again. That's when I realized I don't need a new car. I just need to keep mine clean!