First Reflections

First experiences are often remembered for a lifetime.  Who can forget the first kiss? First job? First roommate? First apartment or house? First baby?  It only takes one word after “first” to flood our minds with vivid scenes and emotions.  

When I remember my first car, a green 1969 Fiat 850 Spyder, I smile and float back to a simpler time, and what it felt like to be seventeen years old.  If I could open the door and crawl in behind the wheel of a similar car, there would be a moment, maybe just a split second when fifty-five years fall away, because I would be sitting in a time capsule. My dark brown hair would be down to my shoulders, the top lowered, and a friend and I would be singing “Honky-Tonk Woman” with the radio tuned to 95.7 KJR.  This car took my first girlfriend on dates, drove me to my first job, provided my first road trip without parents, took me to college and taught me to drive in the snow. 

I have owned enough cars to seem excessive.  But as I started making a list to recall every vehicle, I uncovered the stories and reasons each one entered my life. What comes to mind when thinking about your first car? What was the make and model?  The color? Where did you find it? How many first experiences did it provide you?

I began this writing project about these cars several years ago in an attempt to tell my own story about the joys of finding love, finding the humor when raising kids, and recovering from life’s many challenges.  Writing these stories, some of which have never been shared, is another first.

“Taillights, on the Road to Healing,” is currently being published by Koehler Books, who promises a launch in date in June 2026.  Let me be the first to say, I hope you like it.