Car Chronicles 8: New Beginnings

Meet Penelope.

She is Lucia’s big little sister.

Lori chose the name because she liked it. When I looked it up, I learned it means “faithful.” That sealed the deal.

Penelope is a 2024 Kia Niro. She is electric.

We didn’t start this process looking for an electric vehicle.It was more like it came looking for us.

Don’t get me wrong. I am pro-environment. I was born and raised in Vermont. But I always questioned whether the charging infrastructure was sufficient to get where I needed to go. So I stuck with gas.

But the times they are a changing.

And after test driving two BMWs, two Audis, two Buicks, two Chevys, two Mazdas, three Hyundais, one Tesla, one Ford, one Toyota, and 2 other Kias, we settled here.

Apparently, the nineteenth time is the charm.

(Note: During this process, I learned that the Kia EV line also includes the Soul EV. I cannot tell you how disappointed I am that they did not name this the Electric Soul and introduce it with funk hamsters. But that’s just me.)

After an illuminating but thoroughly demoralizing season that involved studying cars, testing cars, and having a series of dealerships tell us one thing, and then attempt to offer us something else, we went, while visiting my mother in Vermont, to Fairfield Kia in Keene, NH.

I have a special relationship with Keene, and the people who live there.

When I was a kid, our lives started to change when my mom got her Masters in Counseling at Keene State College.

I got saved in Keene, in 1997, while I was unknowingly in need of brain surgery, and probably high on Dexedrine, because of the astonishingly patient teaching ministry of Steve Maturo.

It isn’t Pleasantville. And it isn’t Mayberry. I’m not saying everyone I’ve met there has been perfect. And certainly they didn’t meet someone perfect in me. But God has often used this town in my life in an interesting way.

And sometimes he just winks.

We went to Keene the first time during this process, after my wife saw an ad, and got on the phone with a salesman named Mikey G. Very helpful. Very straight-forward. Almost so much so, that, as a New Yorker, you’re sort of looking for a wire. You’re expecting Ashton Kutcher to jump out. You’re waiting to see what’s the catch.

Then you’re like, oh, ok, “honesty” is your shtick? I've seen that movie before, too.

But the numbers he gave us were good. And then, when we showed up at the dealership, they remained the same.

And when we sat down to speak to him, I said, my name is Mischa. And he said, oh, me, too actually – Mesha. I’m Russian. Grew up in Massachusetts. Mikhail is Russian for Michael. The people close to you call you Mesha. And since nobody understands Mesha, a lot of the time, I just go by Mikey.

Yes, yes, I know.

And yes, this was both deeply relatable, and felt like a God wink.

And over the next few days, as we dealt with other members of the team, we started to feel like, while this is obviously a business transaction, and not an invitation to a prayer circle, we may have found a dealership that is actually trying to do right by us.

Here, however, is the object lesson for today: walking into things you didn’t know you needed.

2024 cars do a bunch of things I wasn’t looking for that make life easier. The backing cam with rear cross traffic collision warning, so I can see and not hit the people behind me. The regressive breaking, so I don’t feel like I’m riding a skateboard down a hill. The alarms that someone is too close to you. The GPS that actually shows you the sign ahead you are looking for, and the lane you want to be in to get there.

I’ve been sitting here going what car will I feel the best in pulling up to a speaking engagement?

And God is kinda like, how much better will you feel if you’re less worried about getting hit in traffic? Or getting swindled by a dealership? Or getting out of a parking space without getting into a fight?

And the principle here is how many headaches have I come to accept as inevitable, that actually aren’t?

How many difficulties have I normalized because I think adversity makes me stronger, when it’s really just making life difficult?

How many challenges am I giving myself because I have the wrong focus or priorities?

Relationship comes with inevitable friction. Two wounded people come together and are going to bleed on each other. A degree of conflict is the price of connection. The question is what is the spirit of that conflict, and how much are we willing to take? Some people fight to find middle ground. Others fight to inflict pain. We need to know the difference.

Jobs come with unavoidable hassles. Someone pays us to do what they want, not what we want. Hopefully most of it works for us. The rest, if we are operating in integrity, we either choose to tolerate, or move on. Or we may find ways to pretend we are working, when really, we are not.

Today, I’m thanking God for progress, not just in my possessions, but prayerfully in my maturation.

I’m grateful that I am emerging from this process with greater self-understanding.

We can spend a lot of our lives trying to do the thing that looks the best, the thing we hope will makes us feel better about ourselves.

Or we can do things that work.

Today I’m thankful for things that work, and I’m inspired to do better in the process.

Travelling mercies.

See you on the road.

(Photo Credit: Classickia.com)