On Emblems, Eagles and Freedom

Good Evening All! Well, here I am tucked in again under my trusty car cover. My lady and I had a great weekend! She entered me in a car show, something she told me she would never do. In fact, this was the second one she entered me in during my whole life so far–and all within two months; she always said she likes to drive me more than she likes to sit and look at me, even though I am one of the “unwanted” second generation Camaros. Not really worth all that much to most people, even those who love Camaros. But that does not matter to her, she loves me anyway, I know.
While we were at the show this weekend, I overheard her talking to someone and she was asking this person what they thought attracted everyone to the Camaro. After all, we are different than Stangs or Vettes for sure, even though the new fifth generation Camaros can give either a new Cobra or an ’09 ZR1 a good run for its money. She, of course, already knew what attracted foks to the Camaro, I know that. She just wanted to see what someone else thought. The person she was talking to did not miss a chance to give her his opinion–it was the freedom he said. I think he called the Camaro an “emblem of freedom” and my lady was in total agreement. The Camaro is an emblem of the free spirit that exists in everyone but which only a few people actually act on during their lifetimes.

Let’s think about this for a moment. I have noticed that my lady is pretty adamant about making sure nothing represses that free spirited consciousness and the happiness that both of us enjoy. Not that she has shirked her responsibilities in life, on the contrary, she has been steadfast in adhering to these responsibilities, many times to the detriment of her (and my) own desires and wishes. The heavens know that I have certainly enjoyed my own dose of reality when she stuffed all those children and groceries from her 3 a.m. runs to Stop & Shop in my backseat–how many did we raise anyway???? I lost track at six. I think that if there was one thing that my lady would totally agree with it is the fact that everyone needs to grab each and every opportunity in life to feel real joy and excitement, no matter what is going on in one’s life. And by golly, if there is no excitement there, she’d go out and create it just for us. If she had her way, she would counsel everyone not to worry, get anxious and otherwise stress over those things one cannot control (which is just about everything). I always hear her talking to herself, telling herself to remember that the only thing she can really control is what she thinks and feels about a situation. Of course, I always oblige to help her out when she slinks behind the wheel and turns the key in the ignition to take one of our “drives to nowhere” as she refers to them. That is the way she unwinds and gets back into our groove.

I specifically recall one of our drives during which we picked up an eagle that flew alongside with us for hours. Yes, it was a bald eagle on top of it all–the quintessential emblem of our domestic liberty! I knew that my lady had the ability to attract animals, and birds in particular, and this phenomenon had been occurring all her life. What was particularly interesting about this sighting was the fact that she recognized that it looked like the eagle was leading us and we were following. It was the children that noticed it first and they were so excited. The eagle was with us for hours as we travelled through the Texas panhandle and into New Mexico on that drive, leaving us only at Gila Bend when we stopped for a respite at The Space Age Hotel. It was pretty cool to see that. My lady and that eagle seemed to understand each other and the eagle at one time came pretty darn close to the driver side door as he was flying. She reached out and almost touched the bird at that point, much to the amazement of everyone else in the car. They had a connection that was wonderful to witness. I think to this day that that eagle was a messenger from the universe sent to let us know that we were ultimately on the right road of life and that we would be okay, even though we did not know where we were going, had little money and had no idea what we were going to do when we got to whatever destination was ultimately waiting for us. I think that eagle picked up where the winter bluebirds had left off; I will have to tell you about those bluebirds some time soon–maybe in my next post–and was a precursor to the hummingbirds that would ultimately befriend us at our new home which was yet unknown to us. That day will forever live in our memories as one of the most special times we shared on a drive. And it is a perfect memory of what both I and my fellow Camaros are for many folks–not just my lady–the emblem of freedom that means so much to so many people.

Sweet dreams and happy beginnings,

The Car