New car smell

Tree picture that has nothing to do with my post..but oh my stars..gotta love me some Washington yellow light.

Sexiest jogger in all the land husband had a rental car this weekend.  I was driving it back from grocery shopping and basking in the smell...ahhhhhhhhhh.

No crushed french fries in the carpet, 5 starbucks empties rattling around in the back, dirty sneakers, muddy cleats, the dent in the bumper, the gum that never came all the way out of the passenger seat, thousands of road trip miles.. just the general wear and tear of 6 Strehle's, 10 states and about 170 thousand miles..

New cars are so dang zippy! Shiny, exciting, fun, fancy, so many bells and whistles!

I realized that us humans have this funny little thing about the new car smell.. we are always chasing it.

Marriage-
Oh.. look at that one.. so shiny.. smells GOOD.. I'm pretty sure he would NEVER leave his dirty boxers laying 1 foot from the laundry hamper.. right???

Friendships-
Oh.. look.. SUPER exciting! Her facebook profile pic is AWESOME.. she checks in at sbux ALL the time..she repins all my stuff.. and I just know she would never tag me if I had three chins in a picture.. BFF for EVER!!!

Home-
Oh.. look.. so fancy. I'm pretty sure if I had 4,000 square feet my kitchen would be sooo much easier to clean!!!!! People would say.."Martha Stewart??".. I would coyly respond.."No, Amber Strehle."

Spiritual-
Oh.. look.. so many bells and whistles! This church is so hipster.. meets at unconventional times, unconventional places (hello local tavern..woot-woot!) they even have an unconventional name.. All the people here will never judge me and ALWAYS act accordingly to scripture!!!

Career- (or in my case..my art)
Oh..look.. sooo exciting! I'm sure this new e-course is going to TOTALLY re-spark my vision. I will be Annie Leibovitz in NO time!!!!


Of course there is the rub..

New becomes old.
Always.
Like every single time.
The smoking hot mini-van once was shiny, new and super fancy..for reals.

There is just no possible way, to use something.. and not have it become well..used.. soiled.. a bit dirty.. roughed up.. gritty. That new smell fades.. breast sag, friends frustrate, houses are a little tight, religion fails you.

LIFE HAPPENS.

When the smell in the smoking hot mini-van gets a little ripe, I'm going to be honest with you. I would LOVE to just go trade that sucker in for a new one. I mean who wants to risk life and limb reaching under the back seat of a mini-van that belongs to 4 children??

How nice would it be to start all over.. never having to face the fact that I AM at least partially responsible for letting it get that dirty in the first place..

ahh.. the sting.

Our landfills are teaming with the shiny, our bookshelves laden with the newest diet craze and self-help books, court systems over run with the pursuit of that new car smell.

So the question I ask you today dear reader.. do I drive straight away to the nearest car dealership and trade her in (the car that is) (or I guess you could say the wife/husband, friend ect..) or do I dig in? Get my hands a bit dirty, do life and realize that while the new car smell is nice, the flash, the pert breasts, the honeymoon is awesome, but dang it.. it is NOT reality. It fades..

Our character is built and shown not in purchasing the car, but how we maintain it.