A life of cars

I recently read a post by a friend where she describes all the vehicles she has owned. She mentioned that her identity changed a little with each vehicle even though she had to remind herself that it was just a car, a means to get from A to B. I started thinking about all the vehicles I have owned. I thought it might be fun to reminisce. I hope my friend does not get offended by the copy cat. Thanks B***** for the trip down memory lane.
The first car I ever owned (parents owned, I just drove), was a red Ford Ranger pick-up. My dad taught be how to drive in this car. It was a stick shift and my dad gave me a 30 minute lesson then proceed to get out of the car at the house and told me to go driving by myself. If I wasn't home in half an hour he would go looking for me. The next morning he refused to take me to seminary and said that I was to drive myself to seminary, school, and then home myself from then on. Talk about a panic moment. I had spent a total of 1 hour in that pick-up, more time stalled than actual driving and now I was required to go it alone. I smiled through my teeth and said OK. It was a great learning experience for me because my first 4 cars were all stick shift. I only had that red ranger for about 6 months. I was at a complete stop one morning waiting for a school bus to load kids and was rear ended by someone going 50 miles an hour. The impact pushed me into the school bus and I proceeded to roll several times and was almost hit by a semi truck going in the opposite direction. Needless to say, my truck was totaled. Bye to red ford ranger.
Hello to my next car, a tan mazda pick-up. I drove that car all the way through high school and a few months of my freshman year of collage. My parents then decided I didn't need a car at college anymore so by next vehicle was a mountain bike.
I rode that mountain bike the rest of my freshman year. My sophomore year I was the lucky recipient of a mazda sports car on loan from a generous boyfriend while he was on a mission. Well, that lasted all of maybe 8 months when he had to return home for health reasons and met someone at his singles ward the first Sunday he was back from his mission. So my love affair with a sports car ended there. (I think the guy new that I loved the sports car more than him). Anyway, that lead to my next car. This was the first car I bought on my own. It was a red Toyota Celica. It wasn't as fun to drive as the mazda but it got me, as B***** said, from A to B.
I had to sell the Celica when I went on my mission. After the mission I bought my brother's old car, a light blue Ford Taurus. I had this car until I got married and the first 4 years of marriage. John and I have gone through several cars since being married; Honda Civic, Honda accord, VW Passat, Honda Odyssey, Chevy Trailblazer, and our current cars, a Kia optima and Ford Expedition.
All these vehicles have their own stories but I think nothing can compare to that very first Red Ford Ranger. It shaped my identity in small ways and it also saved my life. I always wondered how long I would have had that car had it not been for someones careless mistake that spring morning. They definitely don't make cars the way they used to.