Right now, I'm sitting in my car in a LDS church parking lot as I write this blog post. The church is across the street from Sky View High School in Smithfield, Utah, and I'm at the church parking lot because I can't get wi-fi at the school. At that school, several hundred ballroom dancers and their friends and family are getting ready for tonight's dances.
What does that have to do with an old Volkswagen Beetle?
Good question.
It was about this time of year, 1987, thirty years ago, I found myself in Smithfield Utah. My brother said he had seen an old VW Bug for sale in Smithfield. He was living in Logan Utah, at the time, and going to school. Smithfield is a few miles north of Logan. I had just returned form my LDS church mission and I needed a car. I thought I'd drive up and give it a look.
I saw it, an orange 1972 VW Bug, and I bought it. I think it cost me $500. Imagine buying a working, drivable VW classic beetle for $500. Back then, those cars were all over the place for that price, and cheaper. Now, they're several thousand, even if they're junk.
I had my cousin paint it a beautiful red. If Facebook (or, the internet, for that matter...) existed back then, I'd have posted many a picture of that car. It really looked good. I drove it for several years. It was definitely more reliable than the 1965 VW Bug I had in high school.
I posted a picture of an old bug a few days ago. It's parked at a garage that's next to the dance studio where my daughter trains. It's a beat-up car, but I think it's beautiful. As my daughter and I entered Smithfield this morning, I almost expected an orange bug to be parked by the side of the road waiting for someone to swoop in an buy it. Of course, there was no orange bug.
But if there were, I would have probably done the same thing I did thirty years ago this month.
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