Dai Dai Scratches

We recently purchased a small foreign automobile with small tires (remember Dai-Dai? I told you about her earlier). I call my wife honey and I’ll use ‘hon’ for short when I’m in a hurry. Dai-Dai (or just Dai) is likewise our honey (our ‘Hon’-Dai). She gets good gas mileage, has decent pep, and is easy to drive. There is a problem that exists because of her short wheel span and closeness to the ground. The first time I drove into the garage I discovered the problem. As I crossed the gutter going into the driveway, I grounded out. The frame of the car and the dip in the concrete at the gutter hadn’t met yet and were getting to know each other for the first time. The concrete….we’ll call him Crete for short…and our auto Dai-Dai (or my ‘Hon’-Dai if you want), were having a spat right as they were becoming acquainted. And Crete seemed to be a little chauvinistic. He didn’t like the way Dai-Dai was grounding out on him. Dai-Dai didn’t make a very good impression on her first try and has, since then, made several other attempts at winning friendships.

The deep trough at the grocery store received the same impression from her when they first met, also our next door neighbors’, and even on her first formal date with the entryway to the church parking lot. This was the day I had taken her to the car wash where she received the full treatment, wash, wax, manicure, deep interior cleaning, and even bought her a special wintergreen perfume that she wore on her arm (next to the steering wheel). She was dressed up to the max for this last encounter. I think all the preparation must have worked because when I got out of her after the two had met, and walked over to examine the entryway, I could see that not only had they had a very special encounter, but that she had made a very deep impression on him that looked like it would be there forever! And it looked like he had really ‘made a hit’ with her. This really blew me away because they had never had a previous encounter before that day. That shows you how important it is to always be and look your best because you never know when or where you will make an everlasting impression on someone. There are some you meet and on your very first encounter feelings will arise, emotions will flow, and those first impressions will be forever etched into both your souls. Neither you nor they will ever forget it. If a good impression was made, terrific! If a bad one, well, nothing you can do will get rid of it.

In this last meeting, I felt that ‘Dai’ had done the best she could. It stirred me that she wasn’t interested in just finding another ‘good looker’, but someone who also had some religious background. I felt that this is where the commitment should be made, and that any future encounters would be futile and a waste of time. It was then when I decided to help Dai-Dai keep her commitment with the religious guy by making a different approach to meet any other suitors who might be interested in making an acquaintance with her. I might have gone a little overboard when I coaxed her to make diagonal advances to the future gutters & troughs, and then really lost it when I bought her some oversized tires, which raised her already beautiful chassis another 6 inches so there would be no temptation or inclination to meet anyone else.

It worked! But occasionally I still forget her attachment to the gutters and driveways and will make a straight-forward approach to some brawny suitor with a big trough. Just yesterday, in fact, when she made a pass at one of these, I got out to examine things, and saw that the religious guy was going to have to work hard to make sure her commitment was with only him. This time, not only had she made an everlasting impact on Brawn, but he also deeply imprinted her on her underside. This treatment had always been reserved previously for her closest long-time friend, Mr. Carwash, as well as her newfound religious love, Mr. Church Parking Lot. But with this last encounter, it became evident that she wasn’t 100% satisfied with the future possibilities up to now and wasn’t ready to settle down. She still needed some time to consider her options before she made a lifetime commitment.