This is a comically terrible photo.
She's a '98 Corolla. I bought her from my aunt when I still lived in California and we've been through a lot together. She's such a good little car and friend. (Yes, friend.) I am already dreading the day that Lola's life comes to an end. There are just so many quirks I love about her:
The driver's side window that will only roll up at the rate of 1 cm per day.
The visor that sits half-open, waiting to greet my forehead each time I hop inside.
The hole in the wiper fluid tank that leaves my windshield looking so grime-kissed and foggy.
Yes, I do realize that all of these things are fixable. Just haven't gotten around to it, ok?
This particular quirk is actually where my story begins.
Tim and I got home at exactly the same time the other day. Since we have a single-wide driveway, he pulled in first and Lola and I followed behind him. The roads have been all wet and slushy from the melting snow, so my windshield was looking extra grubby by the time I got home. I reached out the door (NOT the window though, because that would mean grime in my face for the next couple of days) and squirted a water bottle across the glass. I ran the wipers a few times, gathered my belongings, and headed inside for the night.
I was already running late for work the next morning (typical) when I could not find my keys anywhere! After pacing through every room in my house I finally just grabbed a spare and rushed out the door. I climbed in the car, careful to avoid the visor-forehead-whack, and growled at the sight of my keys sitting in the ignition... Good thing there weren't any thieves looking to come up on a blue Corolla in the night. I went to start the car in a hurry, but noticed that I only had to turn the key half as far as normal.
CLICK CLICK CLICK... palm to forehead...
I left Lola chilling on accessories for 15 HOURS! She said "Forget it, you irresponsible owner!" I sulked back inside to share my bad news with Tim. I'm sure he wanted to wring my neck, but he only grinned and put on his shoes. (He's a saint, I tell you!) After a lot of staring at our real-life game of driveway Tetris, we decided that we were going to try to push Lola out of the driveway. Not with our bodyweight (because really, have you seen us?) but with Tim's Jetta! He held a bunch of old towels between our bumpers while I eeked down the driveway in neutral until I ran into the back of the Jetta. Since I wasn't exactly in blog mode when all of this was happening, I didn't take any pictures. It's your lucky day though, because I did fabricate a pretty incredible visual reproduction using the Paint program and my trusty Snipping Tool.
Anyway, after Lola was good and pushed up against the Jetta's bumper, into reverse Tim went! We were actually really surprised at how easy it was. And no one was damaged in the process! With one last nudge, Lola backed into the street with just enough room for Tim to pull out of the driveway. He gave me a jump, I gave him a hug, and Lola lives another day!
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