OK. I really, really like driving a VW Beetle.

I don't know why. Maybe it brings me back to when I first learned to drive. I didn't have much faith then that I could keep a vehicle in the narrow path of a lane, so I was thrilled that I could learn driving a small little foreign car. Parallel parking was a dream! And so, stick shift and all, I spent time on the road with my father...."daddy"...and he taught me well how to drive that wonderful German car!

When it came time to buy my first car, I had no choice but to make it a '72 Super Beetle. I think it was the first year they made that model. It was Baby Blue and smelled so wonderfully new when I drove it. It was MINE!

Soon, thereafter, I married and moved to Houston and soon became pregnant and a Beetle just isn't a family car, is it?

So we traded it in. I had other cars, but soon returned to the VW Van...Skipper, I called her. I think back to her fondly and wonder now how I could be so careless as I let my four precious children wander around, un-seat belted! Thank you, god, for watching over them, even though their mother (and father) were so clueless!

And so, when I needed a car in 1998, I rejoiced that the Beetle had returned and I drove one, ready to enjoy the fun and spirit that only VW owners know.

And today, after the lease of my 1998 Beetle expires, I return again to the Beetle. It's a 2003 model, Blue Lagoon is the color and it's got a kick-ass stereo system. And it's mine (and the bank's) with a 2.9% interest rate! Driver's wanted????....that would be me!