Mini Luxury

You know how I love the little things, the odd things in life because it is those things that can make a person so ridiculously happy in an instant.Witness this.

The window is folded down. This is one of the reasons I'm loathe to replace the Jeep. In addition to, currently, being unable to afford car payments, I would have to special order a Jeep Wrangler with half-doors. Off-the-lot offerings do not come with half-doors. Most people buying Jeeps have no concept of removing the top half of their door. Possibly, they don't want to. But I can and that gives me a freedom completely lacking in a full-door Jeep. Yes, it's a headache and a half to get the new window covers over the windows, but when the weather turns nice, there is nothing, not one thing, more wonderful than removing the windows and tooling down the highway. On days where the threat of rain is very, very real, I can still feel like I'm topless without having to quickly (there's no such thing) put the top up when I encounter rain.

With the old top, the driver's side window was duct taped shut. You can barely see it here. I must have gone through a roll and a half over the course of last fall and winter in an effort to keep out the rain and, eventually, the snow, while I waited for the opportunity to get to Iowa and have my brother help me put on the new top. I haven't been able to unzip the driver's side window in over a year as first, the left zipper quit working and then, the right zipper quit. (Each window comes with two zippers.)

I adapted. I am really, really, really good at adaptation. It doesn't work. No matter. I'll figure something out. I went inside at the bank and fast food restaurants. There was no such thing as drive-up unless the window was off.

When we installed the new top, there was a bump in the zipper that prevented it from being opened all the way around. I thought I'd have to call Quadra Tec and ask what to do with one window unable to open. It turned out all it needed was to be in the sunshine. The canvas expanded and the zipper worked and I've had no problems at all since April. There also wasn't a desire to open the window due to the weather.

A week ago, I had banking to do. I combined that with a trip to Subway. As I was pulling into the bank parking lot, it dawned on me that I could go through the drive through. What a concept! What, for me, is a luxury! I have the window folded down and I can do all my banking without leaving my car. With the window folded down, I lose the "ledge" on which I usually rest my left arm, which is now dry because the window doesn't leak. But that just means I can do through the Dairy Queen drive-thru in downtown Wheaton and not have to contest with hordes of pre-teens loosed on an unsuspecting public at 3:30 in the afternoon on a Tuesday.

This is yet another thing to be happy about and grateful I have a brother willing and wanting to help. It may seem silly or odd, but it makes my life so much better. If I didn't have chocolate chocolate chip ice cream from Oberweise currently in the freezer, I'd head over to DQ after work. I haven't had a peanut buster in ages.

Beverage:  Water

Deb