Desire

Gun’s Quote-of-the-Week:

“Have what you like, but like what you have.”

-The Gun

The above quote, if its words are in a different order and are placed with other words between them, can be attributed to several people and are found on several websites. However, the two sentences above don’t seem to be replicated verbatim anywhere on the internet. Interesting. I certainly don’t think I was the one who made the above phrase up, but beings that the internet cannot verify that anybody else can claim it, I guess my own little motto that I carry around with me on a daily basis is, in fact, my own. (If somebody knows that I am in error, please tell me!)

This past week, my car, Blizzard Bullet, decided that it’s transmission had a few too many miles on it and thus bucked and jerked and made a little dash board light come on to tell me that it was quitting. The transmission guy verified it… I was staring a $2,000 repair in the face.

I decided it was time to go shopping for a new (and by that I mean different) car. So, I cancelled my annual trip to go camping (I couldn’t drive down there #1, and #2 I would just worry about it the entire time I was down there anyway) and went car shopping instead. After all, with it being Labor Day, there were bound to be sales, right?

The Hyundai Azera was nice, but it needed work. Fairly certain that I was going to have to buy a water pump and a timing belt, and the tires were bald. The Honda Accord was actually hideous. First of all, why is beige such a popular color? Blah… but anyways, it was obvious that the interior took a beating and the exterior wasn’t much better. It needed a paint job. What does a Honda that is three years newer than my Mazda (but in worse shape) and with 2,000 more miles cost? $10,000. Ha!

The Acura could be best described in the same words that my late grandfather, Jerry, would constantly say: “It’s like you put this car on and take this car off.” It felt more like a cocoon than a car. Just the five minute ride in that thing made my back hurt. Sheesh.

Of the five cars I drove this weekend, the one I liked the most was… mine.

I think there’s something to be said for liking what you have. I think there’s something to be said for being happy with what you have. I think there’s something to be said for desiring what you have. You see, in a world where we are constantly being pulled to buy this and that, grab the latest and greatest thing or follow the newest fashion trend, the idea that I can turn my car on and know that for the money nobody else can offer me anything that can make me happier is… bliss.

So, instead of sinking the $10,000 to inherit somebody else’s problem, I will sink $2,000 to re-inherit my own. After all, I know something about the guy who’s driven it for the last seven years, and I have a decent idea about its accident history. (Ahem.) The rest of the $8,000? Well, I did end up with the aquarium I wanted this weekend. (No, it didn’t cost $8,000.)

Know what else? I like the aquarium, too.

…and that’s why it’s a Gun’s Quote!