What's Under the Hood

This week, I had a dented door replaced on my 2001 Subaru Forester. It was one of the many bumps, wrinkles and scratches that makes my car look like it was "rode hard and put away wet," as the saying goes.

With my new, pretty door, I was driving it to pick up kids and thinking about how this could be the start of gradually repairing all the dents and completely rejuvenating my ride, when my daughter called out from the back seat, "Cool! The fabric on this door is different than all the rest!"

Cool to her, but a crossroads for me. See, I already have the reputation among my daughter's friends (and, secretly, their parents) of being the "junky car mom." I know I'm not the only one, and I screamed with laughter when a friend pointed me to the "Mom My Ride" video on YouTube.

Leaving the upholstery unmatched would be one more giant step down that road, but it also would be another chapter in my car's story.

The fact is, it has been ridden hard, but it's had lots of fun along the way. It's gone camping, on family trips, to more parks and playgrounds and hiking trails than I could count. It's had two different dogs take their rightful places in the back, and its seats have absorbed enough juice-box spills and Cheerios to feed breakfast to a small army.

As I looked at my car, with all the remaining dents and mis-matched upholstery, I thought, "Jeez, I really should just trade it in and start over with something new."

Then, I hopped in it to pick up my son and remembered why I keep it around. It's fun to drive, highly dependable, and can take anything life throws at it. All admirable qualities for anything - or anyone - that's got that many miles on 'em.

The car stays, along with my "junky car mom" reputation. But the nice guys at MAACO did put my original upholstery back on.