A Girl and Her Car: Part II

Ladies, when it comes to your vehicles, don't be afraid to get dirty. I'm not saying get up to your elbows in grease all the time, but once in a while, with regards to your cars, get grimy on occasion. You'll better appreciate your wheels.

Like every other time, today my dad and I changed the tires on my car (my winter ones needed to be swapped up for my summers). Granted, he's the one who busts out the jack, the air gun for the bolts, and lifts my tires off of and into their proper places. I normally take care of my hub caps, usually take the torque wrench and ensure my bolts are snug (he did that this time), and I make sure my tires go onto their tree in the shop.

My friend Omar is always impressed with me and the tire tree part. Sure, I roll the tires from the shop to the proper place at my car, and vice versa, but getting them to the tire tree is what impresses him. Getting to the tire tree is the next best thing to going through a maze as I have to navigate my way around small piles of stuff. As such, I have to carry my tires through the old shop. That's right. Carry. Because of this, Omar thinks I'm a beast. The sad part is, my tires aren't the heaviest things I've carried. Hay bails weigh a lot more.

Because I hauled my tires in and out of the shop, I was grimy and filthy, and you know what? I didn't mind it. Do I want to be that dirty all the time? No, not really. If I wanted that, I would have stayed in the blue collar world.

Side bar: I have a terrible sense of humour, as those who know me could tell you. When I came in the house, all covered in filth, I asked my mum to please take a picture. She looked at me strangely for a moment, and said okay. I told her I wanted to send it to my squeeze. She gave me an odd look again. Then I told her that if I send a photo of me all grimy to the boyfriend, he can't complain that I've never sent him a dirty picture. That's right. I'm awesome. And my mother was quite amused as well at my reasoning.

The dirty picture I sent to the boyfriend.

To make a long story short, my tires were changed, and I got filthy doing it. And yes, I do love my car that much more because of it. So ladies (and gents), fearlessly go out and get dirty, especially when it comes to maintaining your car. But if you want to take it to your mechanic, provided you have one who's awesome, like I'm fortunate enough to have, I totally understand that too. But at least do some maintenance to your car, or at the very least, get dirty loving it once in a while.