Earlier this week I saw a dream of mine become a reality. I don't know when it started exactly, this dream, but it has been years in the making. I was living in Spokane, WA, at the time, after having moved there after high school, a place I would call home for 14 years. They are cute little cars, to be sure. Sporty. Fun. Cool. Whatever it's origins, my love for Mini Coopers has only grown over the years. I wanted one! They looked like a blast to drive and they're cuter than any buttons I've ever seen.
Some time after I began my love affair with Mini's, I had
the opportunity to go visit the nearest Mini dealership over in the Seattle area. My dad, one
of my brothers, David, and I took a trip over there to check them out and test
drive one. It was thrilling to pull into the dealership and see all the
Mini's there. There was an old one inside in the reception area that I was
almost certain I could actually pick up and carry out the door it was so small.
That was a beautiful car! Perfectly restored or maintained and just gorgeous!
They don't look like that anymore, as is true of most things I suppose. But I
still love the look of the new ones. We ended up taking one out for a drive,
all 3 of us with the salesman, in that small car. David is a tall guy, probably
over 6 feet. I'm not too tall, about 5'3" and Dad wasn't a tall man, maybe
5'6" if I had to guess. I don't remember much about the salesman but we
all fit in that car and it wasn't too cramped. There's plenty of room up front with
the crunch coming for back seat passengers having to sit behind taller front
seat passengers. It was awesome to zip around their little test driving route! I
was hooked even more. I've never been much of a car person. They are functional
things to be used. I've never named one of my cars. But getting to drive a Mini for the first time and having
that enjoyment of driving such a speedy, gutsy little thing was so much fun! I
could begin to appreciate some of the car-love I'd seen in other people.
Sadly, I was not in any position to purchase a Mini that
day, certainly not a new one, but the dream grew. I'm terrible at remembering
dates but some time after that trip I found a red Mini in Spokane that I thought might be for me. I
took it out for a test drive with another brother, Michael. Yet another fun
drive. You can't not have fun driving one, unless of course you're terrified of
speed and zippiness. Mom, I will try to keep my speed under control when you go for a
ride with me. Try. I went to the bank and was crushed to be told that though
they had 'preapproved' me, a term I am wary of, I wasn't actually going to be
'approved' for the loan to get this one. Excuse me?? Why didn't you run my
credit and do whatever banks do before you 'preapprove' someone?? I had almost
signed the papers. I was truly angry and frustrated to have come so close and
then to be denied at the end. This Mini was not to be mine. I ended up
purchasing a 2003 Mazda Protégé shortly after that, sometime around 2006, I
think. It was a great little car, plenty of zoom and such. It has been a really good car. But it wasn't my
Mini.
I have had my Mazda paid off for a few years now and have a job that
allows me to not only pay my bills, pay for going to grad school, and travel
when I want . . . well, not as much as I want to but certainly more than
before, but to actually have some money in a savings account. These are things
I haven't always had and am so very grateful for now. I don't take that for
granted. So I decided to inquire about the loan and see what was out there to
fit my budget. They approved me at a great rate, I
think. Thanks to Michael, we soon found a car worth looking into. There
are Mini's out there to be found for sure, but it needed to be the right one.
Automatic, red, good mileage, in good condition inside and out, not too old,
preferable an S (sport).
This past week I finally brought home my Mini!! More than 10
years later, my dream of owning a shiny red Mini Cooper S has come true! March 23, 2016, Michael, along with his wife and daughter,
Gemmalyn and Kyla, and myself drove over to Bremerton to check out this car. I had the
money in my account for the cashier's check. The seller seemed to be a pretty
decent guy (you never know what you're gonna get on Craigslist). We had done as
much research on this car as we could without seeing it and I was pretty
certain this was my car. Sure enough, it all checked out, everything seemed to
work as it should and of course, it is bright shiny red! I gave him the check
and he gave me the title and we were set. I couldn't believe it had finally
happened, on a rainy Wednesday afternoon, after so many years of hoping and
dreaming. She was coming home with me to stay, to her forever home. I know, I
know, people talk like that about dogs and kids and I'm not in any way making light
of those contexts, but for me, this is probably the closest I'll come to
feeling that way about something or someone, at least until I get married, a
far more distant prospect these days.
It was a bittersweet moment, this dream coming true, this car
coming home with me. I'd laid awake the nights before thinking about this car,
trying not to get my hopes up so high that it would hurt when they weren't
realized. Always trying to temper the excitement with reality. But I also lay
awake thinking about my Dad. He passed away 6 years ago now, still so hard to
believe, still bringing tears tumbling down my face unbidden, even now. I kept
thinking how much I wish he were here to share this moment with, to go for a
drive with. For the first time I brainstormed names for this car. I wanted
something great, something personal, something that would speak to some of the
things I did get to share with my Dad when he was here. Not because I think
he'd really care what I might name this car, but to show honor in some small
way to him for being my dad, for sharing my love for Mini's, and to remember
him in this way.
Nikita isn't just a new car for me. She is a representation of a new beginning,
a new phase in my life. She is the proof that dreams can come true, no matter
how big or small they are, when you hang on and you work hard and you have a
lot patience and even more faith. She is a reminder of my Dad and many of the
things he taught me and shared with me. She is the hope that other dreams will
come true, in their own time and perhaps in unexpected and maybe even mundane ways.
Maybe on a rainy Wednesday afternoon. Maybe years after the seed of a dream was
planted. Maybe just when they were supposed to.
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