my favorite Mercury

these nice folks were kind enough to include me on their blog roll, so i’ve decided to pay back the favor and participate in Carnival No. 7. hell, someone might even read my blog. what a novel concept.

as i get into the subject, i need to reveal a little about my past. i have an ex-husband. i made reference to the fact in this post, but i don’t typically spend time, or words, or energy on that marriage that began nearly 20 years ago (argh!) and lasted for six and a half years. in those six and a half years, i personally had loans for SIX different cars.

it started with a 5.0 liter Ford Mustang. the Mustang was replaced by a Toyota Celica GT because a 5.0 liter V-8 rear-wheel drive vehicle doesn’t handle well in Midwestern snow and ice (he was concerned about my safety, huh.). the Celica was replaced by a Mercury Merkur which i have to admit was our “dream car”. by this time, the ex was getting ready to graduate from college, and was convinced he would need something four-wheel drive for commuting 35 miles from our college town to the big city, so i went out and got a loan for a new Suzuki SideKick. if you do the math, i had one job, two car loans, and a husband yet to employed. he eventually got a job, in our college town, with my employer … we even commuted together for two years. thank God we had two new vehicles! eventually we moved away from the college town; i got a job in the big city, and the SideKick came in handy for the ex to commute (before he was an ex). the Merkur was within less than a hand-full of months of being paid-off, when the ex decided we really had to become completely suburban, and trade it in for a Ford Taurus SHO. i was embarrassed. it was a very fast car with a manual transmission, but for crying out loud it was a four-door sedan and we were in our late twenties!

maybe the constant influx of new cars was representative of a marriage constantly in flux. we were always lured by the bigger, better, stronger, faster, and the title was always out-of-reach. we agreed to a divorce, and a division of assets (no, property. we didn’t have any assets.) he said i should have the Taurus because i made more money (and the SideKick was closer to being paid-off. how convenient for him). i didn’t want the damn car, so i traded it for a used Mercury Capri. easily half the car. another metaphor, while i’m at it. yes, i got half in the divorce settlement. i got half of the debt. in addition to $10,000 in credit card bills and very little to show for them, i ended up with an additional $10,000 loan for the car but i didn’t care. it was used, it was a convertible, and yes, it was a perfect little divorcee’ car. that car got me through 18 inches of snow, two blizzards, and a major flood. it took me half-way across the country several times, and was with me when i relocated from the Midwest, worked six months on a Task Force assignment in Utah, and eventually when i moved to the desert Southwest. i paid off that car, and gladly stood in line at the DMV twice so i could have the title changed to my maiden name.

so the favorite car i’ve ever had was that Mercury Capri. it represented the first of many changes in my life of which i am proud. i became independent. i became practical. i became financially secure. i eventually became a wife again, and after six and a half years of a successful marriage, i became a mother (of a child, not an ex-husband).

P.S. when the Capri died, i donated it to charity. i now drive Volkswagen Jetta (manual transmission, but a four-door sedan for the relative ease of a car seat). i paid for it out-right.