Skip to main content

The Bug

My very first car was a 1974 VW Beetle. I loved it. I can still remember the first time that I took it out on the road by myself. I became a permanent Bug fan.

Its color could only be described as fluorescent green. It nearly glowed at night, but it was very easy to spot in a full parking lot.

I have numerous stories that I could tell about that Bug. Stories to do with the softball-sized hole in the floor, the snow that would blow in through the vent, and the battery under the back seat that burned a hole in a friends shorts.

Once I tried to take it up to it's top speed. Believe it or not, I made it up to almost 100 mph. (Kids don't speed... it is very stupid and irresponsible.) But by the time I sold it, at the end of its life, it would barely go 25 mph.

Ever since I sold it, I have had the hope that I would one day be able to own another bug.

About 7 years that opportunity arose. I purchased a 1969 VW Beetle, that was in fairly decent shape, but still needed some work. I kept hoping that the money would come along that would allow me to fix it up, but that money never came.

Once I became a Christian School Teacher, I started to give up on the Bug dream. If you hadn't noticed, we Christian School Teachers aren't rolling in the dough...

Well the hope had all died out and turned into guilt that this bug was still sitting in my parents garage, taking up valuable space (sorry dad) and offering a habitat to mice (sorry mom).

But this last Christmas that hope sprang to life again. My dad took it to a bug mechanic and told him to make it drivable. I know that it was probably because he was sick of looking at it in his garage, but nevertheless, I am very excited.

It is running very good, but it still needs some body work. It needs a new hood and a new fender. AND a new paint job. I'm thinking something green... What do you think?

If I can find a picture of my original Bug, I will scan it and post it so you can see its amazing color.

Does a "bug fund" sound good too? I wonder if I could set up online donations...

Comments

  1. that is quite possibly the coolest thing in the world.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is pretty cool.

    I can't wait to get it down here. I am hoping to start driving it right away.

    ReplyDelete
  3. i remember you talking about the bug. you said that you'd let your students paint it. but green sounds awsome too -jared w.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I do remember mentioning that I would let my students paint my bug.

    But man, I really miss having that original green bug! Besides, I don't know if I would trust a bunch of student to spray paint by VW...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Do you accept PayPal donations?

    ReplyDelete
  6. If I could figure it out, I probably would...

    ReplyDelete
  7. You still $15 for those shorts pal. Jeremy L.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Leave a thought of your own.

Popular posts from this blog

The Seed and The Soil of Education (New Learning Project Part 1)

(This is my entry for the first part of my project for my New Learning course that I am taking.) Introduction Corn Fields in Illinois I have lived the majority of my life in the Midwest: mid-state Illinois to be specific. Where I live, farming is everywhere. My grandparents and great-grandparents on both sides of my family were farmers. My dad grew up on a farm and owned farmland, well into my own adulthood. But, even if it wasn’t in the family, I still would have been surrounded by farming. You can’t go more than a mile outside of my city’s limits without encountering miles and miles of fields. Most of our highways, and even interstates, are located between acres of farmland.

This too shall pass...

Gam zeh ya'avor (Hebrew) "This Too Shall Pass" Welcome!  According to Google Analytics, this is by far the most visited post that I have ever written.  If someone comes here from a search engine, most of the time they are looking for " this too shall pass quote " or simply " this too shall pass " on Google or one of the other search engines. I am sure that most of the time visitors are looking for the originations of this quote, but I have to wonder, why is this quote on people's minds? Why are they pondering the passing of events?   Here is my thought: It is probably because most of us have realized that the adult life is much harder than we ever imagined it to be. There is more pain and more sorrow than we had ever imagined as children, but we have learned that time keeps ticking. And as time continues to flow things pass. In fact, even the really big things and the really hard things will still pass. If you are here because you are thinking ...

The Minnesota Crime Commission wrote:

Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it: his bottle, his mother's attention, his playmate's toys, his uncle's watch, or whatever. Deny him these and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness which would be murderous were he not so helpless. He's dirty, he has no morals, no knowledge, no developed skills. This means that all children, not just certain children but all children, are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in their self-centered world of infancy, given free reign to their impulsive actions to satisfy each want, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist.