I Am So... Bugged!

For some reason I have always had an appreciation for bugs. It's not like I go out looking for them, but whenever I happen to come across them... well, like I said... I have an appreciation for them.

When I was ten years old, I saw my first 'Bug'... the man-made kind. I was at a car show with my dad and as we followed the red carpeted path that led through the gigantic showroom, we turned a corner... and there it was, a beautiful, shiny, bright orange, VW Bug - perfectly displayed on a round pedestal and turning e-v-e-r so s-l-o-w-l-y in order to give the eyes of onlookers the opportunity to view it from all angles - and to allow the lights to highlight its glossy curves. I was smitten.

When I was old enough to drive, and afford a car of my own, I purchased a brand new, candy-apple red Pontiac Sunbird. I had my eye on a VW Bug (with a sunroof I just have to say), but because my dad was a car salesman and did not happen to sell VW's... I went with the Sunbird.

Very soon after my big purchase, I met a very handsome young man who happened to drive.... you guessed it... a VW Bug!

Honestly, it was just the cutest thing to watch - from the moment that we started dating, that little Bug did not have a reverse, and so this handsome young man would strategically park it in places where he could just drive it straight out, although more often than not, a reverse was required and so he would hold onto the steering wheel with his right hand, position his back against the opened door frame, and use his left leg to push the car backwards... then quick as a flash jump in, start the Bug, and away we would go!

Eventually this young man had my heart... and we were soon married and starting our new life together. My husband's brother, who was an art student with the Emily Carr School, gave his brother a beautiful sketch of his little Bug.

As the years went by, and our family grew, the day finally came when we had to sell the little Bug. As the new owners drove away and the familiar putt-putt-putt faded into the distance, my husband and I continued to stand in the driveway, arms around each other and unashamedly, cried.

Fast forward, to this past weekend, when we were out looking at cars... just for fun. We started out test driving a cute little white car - the dealer handed us the keys and told us not to turn the car off - we drove around for a few minutes and decided to park in a school parking lot to check out the vehicle more thoroughly... and you guessed it... we turned off the engine.

Short version of the story, I made an early morning emergency phone call to my friend Wendy (who just happened to live close to the area where we were) for a jump start.

Before we parted ways, Wendy joked about how we should go see her son at the VW Dealership; we took the little car back and headed over to the Honda car lot. We test drove a few cars there as well and then later on in the afternoon, my husband suggested we look at the VW Dealership before calling it a day... the fun was about to begin!

Ok, so this is what happened... just for a lark we ended up taking a VW Convertible out for a test drive. We were no sooner out of the lot, than we pulled over and put the top down, and turned into two of the dorkiest 16 year olds you could ever meet! We bombed around and laughed our fool heads off until we had tears coming out of our eyes. Every time we came to a red light, or a stop sign, we would look at the people on the sidewalks, then look at each other and start laughing all over again as we took off. It soon began to sprinkle and we remembered that we had washing out on the line, so with the wind in our hair, we sped off home, and while my husband was quickly bringing in the laundry, I snapped this picture before putting up the roof.

We laughed and giggled all the way back to the VW lot and were still laughing as we handed back the keys.

We were then shown a very sedate sedan and it was suggested that we give it a test drive as well.

As we pulled out of the lot we were very quiet...

very sedate.

We did our obligatory four right turns around the block and as we turned into the dealership lot...

we both saw the little VW bug...

and instantly looked at each other and began to laugh all over again.

We were definitely blessed that day,

and although the little test driven convertible did not come home with us that night...

its younger sibling, the 2009 Special Edition VW Bug did!

And we are still laughing...

For some reason I have always had an appreciation for bugs. It's not like I go out looking for them, but whenever I happen to come across them... well, like I said... I have an appreciation for them.