Last weekend was my 20th highschool reunion. I'm not all that much of a reunion kind of guy, but there were a small handful of people that I sincerely wanted to see and say "hi" to, so I went.
Most of my close friends know that I'm a "Sterling guy" or at least have some vague notion that I've been working on some project out in the garage for the past 12 or more years of the time they've known me. But these last 10 months were the first time that I owned a RUNNING Sterling in my home town.
Well, all of this prelude adds up to the following: This was going to be the big debut of my car. This was going to be the first time in history that some of these friends actually got to see the car ...and to hopefully think it's cool and that I haven't been wasting all of my time on my mystery project.
The weather needed to hold out.
And it did. Sunny, slightly breezy, 78 degree day. Couldn't have been better.
So my girfriend and I opened up the hanger, drove out under the airplane wing, and started cruising on over to the reunion (which was being held outside at a local park,) generating stares and smiles all the way as we went.
But I was conflicted. When we got to the reunion, I didn't know where to park the car. I wanted to show it off a little ...tangentially to the reunion... but I didn't want to just drive it up, center stage, with a huge amount of fanfare. I didn't want to be "the guy who had to drive his absurdly flashy car to the reunion" despite the fact that...well...okay, I was the guy who had to drive his absurdly flashy car to the reunion.
So I decided to play it really minimalistically. I parked in one of the grassy lots that wasn't right adjacent to the pavilion. And I DID park a little further away from the mass congestion of cars -- mainly becase I didn't want to embarrase myself with having to negotiate any tight spaces -- but I DIDN't park conspicuously out by myself like people do when they want to draw attention or when they don't want their precious cars fraternize with the common cars.
I played it cool. I parked in between a truck and two sweet looking Harleys.
And I popped the top and got out...generating a few stares from people in the parking lot. And I had to have the obligatory conversation with someguy who'd apparently been following me in a van for several miles waiting 'til I stopped the car to ask me what it was. (You get used to that sort of thing pretty quickly with a Sterling.)
But I otherwise acted like there was nothing to see. Nothing special.
And we put the top down and walked about 3/4 of a football field away to the pavillion where the reunion was being held.
I wanted to look back at my cool car a few times. But I didn't. I didn't want to be "the guy who looked back at his flashy car at the reunion." I played it cool.
And I got to the pavillion, had a very friendly chat with some friendly faces from my past, and then turned to inspect my prize from afar, the coooool, nonchalant guy who so cooooly drove up in his flashy car but didn't make a big deal about it...a very cool guy witha very cool car....and...
You couldn't see the damn thing from the pavillion!! *laugh*
Between the pavillion and my car was the littlest, tinyest, gentle rolling hill. Probably no more than three feet high over the course of 3/4 of a football field. But just high enough to totally hide a Sterling. You could see the truck on one side. You could even clearly see the handlebars on both friggin' Harleys on the other side of it. But in the middle was just a blank spot where my car allegedly was still parked. And I just had to laugh.
After all of that over-thinking of the sitation, the car couldn't even be seen. *laugh*
So I had a great time with my friends and, several hours later, drove home. A few times I saw silhouettes of peope standing by the truck and the bikes, looking at some bare spot in the middle. But that was about as much as I got to show off the car. (In the last five minutes, I showed it to my best friend and his little daughter who got a twinkle in her eye over it....which made bringing it worthwhile).
*******
As an aside, they had a big poster-size photo of the reunion from the previous year and, when my girlfriend and I inspected it closely, we were both absolutely horrified to find that we had BOTH worn the exact same shirts that we had worn last year!!! Both of us!! What are the chances!?! (We let some friends in on our realization, and we all had a good laugh over it.)
So in the end, I successfully avoided being all of those "flashy car guy" things that I was worried about...and instead was just known as "the guy and his girfiend who wore the same shirts as last year."
Sweet.
And now my goal, of course, is to make sure that we wear those same two shirts to EVERY yearly reunion we EVER go to. I want to look back on five decades of pictures where Amy and I are wearing those same damn brown and purple striped shirts. It has become the beginning of a legend. *rock on*
Most of my close friends know that I'm a "Sterling guy" or at least have some vague notion that I've been working on some project out in the garage for the past 12 or more years of the time they've known me. But these last 10 months were the first time that I owned a RUNNING Sterling in my home town.
Well, all of this prelude adds up to the following: This was going to be the big debut of my car. This was going to be the first time in history that some of these friends actually got to see the car ...and to hopefully think it's cool and that I haven't been wasting all of my time on my mystery project.
The weather needed to hold out.
And it did. Sunny, slightly breezy, 78 degree day. Couldn't have been better.
So my girfriend and I opened up the hanger, drove out under the airplane wing, and started cruising on over to the reunion (which was being held outside at a local park,) generating stares and smiles all the way as we went.
But I was conflicted. When we got to the reunion, I didn't know where to park the car. I wanted to show it off a little ...tangentially to the reunion... but I didn't want to just drive it up, center stage, with a huge amount of fanfare. I didn't want to be "the guy who had to drive his absurdly flashy car to the reunion" despite the fact that...well...okay, I was the guy who had to drive his absurdly flashy car to the reunion.
So I decided to play it really minimalistically. I parked in one of the grassy lots that wasn't right adjacent to the pavilion. And I DID park a little further away from the mass congestion of cars -- mainly becase I didn't want to embarrase myself with having to negotiate any tight spaces -- but I DIDN't park conspicuously out by myself like people do when they want to draw attention or when they don't want their precious cars fraternize with the common cars.
I played it cool. I parked in between a truck and two sweet looking Harleys.
And I popped the top and got out...generating a few stares from people in the parking lot. And I had to have the obligatory conversation with someguy who'd apparently been following me in a van for several miles waiting 'til I stopped the car to ask me what it was. (You get used to that sort of thing pretty quickly with a Sterling.)
But I otherwise acted like there was nothing to see. Nothing special.
And we put the top down and walked about 3/4 of a football field away to the pavillion where the reunion was being held.
I wanted to look back at my cool car a few times. But I didn't. I didn't want to be "the guy who looked back at his flashy car at the reunion." I played it cool.
And I got to the pavillion, had a very friendly chat with some friendly faces from my past, and then turned to inspect my prize from afar, the coooool, nonchalant guy who so cooooly drove up in his flashy car but didn't make a big deal about it...a very cool guy witha very cool car....and...
You couldn't see the damn thing from the pavillion!! *laugh*
Between the pavillion and my car was the littlest, tinyest, gentle rolling hill. Probably no more than three feet high over the course of 3/4 of a football field. But just high enough to totally hide a Sterling. You could see the truck on one side. You could even clearly see the handlebars on both friggin' Harleys on the other side of it. But in the middle was just a blank spot where my car allegedly was still parked. And I just had to laugh.
After all of that over-thinking of the sitation, the car couldn't even be seen. *laugh*
So I had a great time with my friends and, several hours later, drove home. A few times I saw silhouettes of peope standing by the truck and the bikes, looking at some bare spot in the middle. But that was about as much as I got to show off the car. (In the last five minutes, I showed it to my best friend and his little daughter who got a twinkle in her eye over it....which made bringing it worthwhile).
*******
As an aside, they had a big poster-size photo of the reunion from the previous year and, when my girlfriend and I inspected it closely, we were both absolutely horrified to find that we had BOTH worn the exact same shirts that we had worn last year!!! Both of us!! What are the chances!?! (We let some friends in on our realization, and we all had a good laugh over it.)
So in the end, I successfully avoided being all of those "flashy car guy" things that I was worried about...and instead was just known as "the guy and his girfiend who wore the same shirts as last year."
Sweet.
And now my goal, of course, is to make sure that we wear those same two shirts to EVERY yearly reunion we EVER go to. I want to look back on five decades of pictures where Amy and I are wearing those same damn brown and purple striped shirts. It has become the beginning of a legend. *rock on*