No, this isn’t a ploy to get you to read; this time.  Ha!  If you’ve been following my long-winded, son-of-a-preacherman blog posts (lol), you would know that my “girlfriend” and I have been on tumultuous terms since about April.  My “girlfriend” in this instance is my car.  When we were introduced, she only had 63 miles on her and purred like a kitten.  Those were the days.  Now, at 257K, she’s decided that she can’t take it anymore and I have to be okay with it.

It happened late one night, the Wednesday after Turkey Day.  November, 28, I think (of course I confirmed that that date was correct.  Who’d ya take me for)?  I was on the phone with a friend of mine when it started to give out.  I had just crested a hill when, suddenly…….nothing.  I mean, the engine just shut off in mid-stream.  I immediately started shouting, “No! No! No!,” and started laughing.  I thought it was rather comical.  Let’s face it, I had known for quite some time that the car wouldn’t last very long.  I just didn’t know when or where for that matter.

So, here I was: Sitting on the side of the road.  It was about 9:40 pm.  I thought it through and made a couple of phone calls.  That moment presented an opportunity to notice growth.  If this had happened to the “Old Herbie”, that guy would’ve freaked out and probably cried, frankly.  But instead, I was able to keep my wits about me and focus on the task at hand.  The long and the short of the conclusion is that I sold the car for a few hundred dollars (and no, you cannot borrow money, lol).

On the following Saturday, as I was leaving my condo when I heard something.  I heard the word “freedom.”  It was a sweet, soothing, non-audible voice, that instantly administered peace to my mind.

You see, it would be rather puzzling to some why I would be content without having a vehicle right away.  I’ve had some people tell me (including my own family) that I shouldn’t be without a car, and I know it’s coming from a place of love and concern, but I’m the only one who knows what the departure of this car from my life represents.  The exodus of this vehicle from my life symbolizes  the fact that my past has been absolved completely….and OH BOY, what a past it has been!  I’ll get a vehicle when I have saved sufficient funds; not until then.

At any rate, I was trying to cling to this broken, barely functional “relationship” of a car, because I had become comfortable in the car’s dysfunction.  But once I was out of it, never to return any more, I found freedom.  Still don’t get it?

Lemme put it this way, then.

Many of us know people who have tried to persevere in an abusive situation (verbally, physical or otherwise) and have stayed around because it was comfortable; familiar.  But once they had the courage to leave that broken, barely functional relationship, it was then and only then that they were able to FIND FREEDOM.

Get it?  Got it?  Good.

Until next time,

Love & Peace

-Herbie “Son of a Preacher Man” Brown (lol)