May 8th, 2009
Riding with the Top Down
In February, I was notified that I’d been accepted as a MINI E Field Trial Participant. I was so excited that my application had been accepted. It meant that I’d have the opportunity to lease a MINI E, one of only 500 all electric cars that MINI was going to beta test over the period of one year, and I’d get to be a pioneer of sorts. But last month my dreams of being a MINI E Field Trial Participant came to an abrupt end. The electric work that would have been needed to outfit my garage to accommodate the charging station for the MINI E would have been too costly, and part of the deal is that I’d have to cover that expense.
I’d invested a lot of energy and emotional bandwidth into the idea of having a MINI E. I even went and visited the one on display at the New York Auto Show, for which MINI had sent me two free passes. But it was not meant to be. Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed.
In the way of background, I’ve wanted a MINI Cooper since I was pregnant for my second child back in 2004. I test drove my first MINI when I was five months pregnant. The sales guy at the dealer must have thought I was insane as I adjusted the steering wheel around my large belly (your belly gets so much larger much more quickly with your second, trust me). For the next couple of years, we’d tried to justify purchasing me a MINI, but it had never worked out.
My love affair with the MINI did not wane.
When faced with the truth that the MINI E was not going to work for me, I could have reacted by sobbing in my bedroom or kicking a door jam. A good run or a glass of wine wouldn’t have gone amiss either. But I did none of those things. I was a woman on a mission!
The next day, I took a lunch break and visited the MINI dealer. They had the perfect MINI Cooper S Convertible waiting for me. I test drove it, so happy to be behind the wheel of a manual transmission car again. I’d learned how to drive on a stick shift car, and I still prefer it to automatic. When it came to making the deal, the price was in my range and I finally managed to get a hold of my spousal unit (he’d been in a creative meeting without his cell phone so it had been tough to get a hold of him) for final approval. The deal was done, and I was the new owner of a car I’d wanted for more than five years.
So I picked up my new MINI Cooper S Convertible that evening. I drove with the top down, despite the chilly temps. The fresh air and the rush of wind felt amazing, and it still does. Part of me still can’t believe that it’s actually real. But it is. And you know what? None of this would have happened if I hadn’t faced the disappointment of not getting to be a Field Trial Participant for the MINI E. And none of this would have happened if I hadn’t kept my dream of owning a MINI alive, in whatever form I needed it to be given my current situation.
The moral of the story? What’s holding you back from driving with the top down? If one path to realizing your dreams is impeded, find another one. Go over it, around it, or through it. Life is too fleeting to short change yourself of your dreams. Onward charge!
