A summer romance

the one year itch

As the next Michigan summer chimes in, we mark our first year together.

It’s not just strange how quickly this year went past us but rather it feels a tad bit terrifying. This past one year our relationship has felt similar to that of being in a long distance kind. Even though, all throughout, you rested only a few feet apart in the garage down below. Perhaps it is the four odd month of winter hibernation that I had to put you through. Or perhaps the fact that I couldn’t drive you on wet soggy days. Geography and climate played their part as villains in our love story.

But this intermittent absence in our relationship helped maintained the eternal flame on our candle. Even today, as I slide my way into the driver’s seat and grasp your small steering firmly in my hands, my excitement levels reach higher bounds. When I am done dancing with you on the roads, I come back home with memories singing soundly in my ringing ears. You weren’t much interested in sound insulation and I have been always waiting to listen more.

It is almost as if your memories drive our togetherness. When I am away from you I think back of how much I wanted you since I was 16. When I am driving you, I think how it was almost impossible to ever have you. And when I park you, I think of how much you have given me in terms of pure driving delight. Sometimes I find it appalling to admire you in a picture or a poster even if I have the real deal. I drive an iconic legend and find myself in denial admitting that.

Regardless, a year later, you and I face another glorious summer. It’s time to dust off all the brake dust, to rattle the valves and to clag up the rocker beams by spewing tire rubber. I know that you have been waiting to stretch your legs and to show me again what a Lotus can do, limited only by the boundaries of surface friction.

Quick, my dear Cinderella, it time to head out before the clock strikes noon again.