Bumper Stickers

Bumper stickers....they are kind of like tattoos.  I think you either like them or not.  They can be permanent like a tattoo, you can have many of them, and they both fade over the years.  Some people have them, some don't.  I'm really undecided if I want to put a window sticker on my back window.

Growing up, my parent's cars were devoid of any stickers whatsoever.  No small sticker advertising the dealer where they bought the car, no "Give Peace a Chance" or "Go 'Skins" Pristine surfaces on both cars until I started to drive, then our cars were littered with dings and dents.  My father bought me a VW Fastback when I was in college to spare my mother's new Pontiac Sunbird.  I decorated that VW with at least 5 Grateful Dead window stickers and a few bumper stickers as well.  I'll never forget the day he had to borrow it to go to work.  He came home and said that he was so embarrassed to be driving around a car with skulls, roses and dancing bears all over it.  How could people take him seriously when the car gave people the impression he was a stoner?  Since that day, I refrained from having any bumper stickers on any of our cars.

Fast forward 25 years.....my really good friend here in Connecticut went out of town and came back with the whole back of her car COVERED with bumper stickers.  They all have to do with peace, love and understanding.  Actually, I think she has that on one of her stickers!  They don't look bad on her car and much like a tattoo, they suit her personality, and she is easily identified if you are driving through town or looking for her in a parking lot.  I must admit, I felt a bit of peer pressure to put a sticker on my car.  I had an older vehicle at the time, so I thought, what the heck, and put a Spanish flag bumper sticker on.  My husband is of Spanish heritage and had his growing up years in Madrid, hence the Spanish flag.  It held up pretty well, didn't fade or curl up.  We have since sold the car and it has been sighted in another part of the state!  Like a tattoo, that sticker isn't going anywhere!

Now on to my conundrum.  I have a new car.  Well, a new-used car.  It's beautiful, no dealer labels, no real identifying marks except for my license plates.  The plates belonged to my grandmother and before her, they were her father's.  So, what to do.  Recently another girlfriend of mine wanted to get a monogrammed window sticker for her car.  OOOOHHHH, I'm all about having things monogrammed and that sounded like a sticker I could do.  Not the "My kid is on the honor roll at King Phillip" or "My kid can beat up your honor student".  I ordered us our respective monograms and they came in a few weeks ago.  She put hers on right away and it looks fabulous.  I have been staring at mine.  Do I do it?  I don't know.  What if I put it on crooked(always a danger with tattoo's), what if the back wiper wipes it off?  I just don't know.  My husband recently bought himself a new car and I told him I was going to put my monogram on his car.  He didn't think that was funny. 

And here I sit, filled with so many questions.  Questioning myself even, why is this such a problem??  Diving to work today I saw lots of cars with lots of stickers and lots without.  I guess it would be ok to put it on, it would be on the glass, and I could scrape it off easier than a sticker on the bumper.....I know!  I'll put it on tomorrow......maybe.

It's been 2 weeks.....

and my husband has officially gone mad.  He washes the Jag every other day and he must have wiped the car free from dust 15 times on Saturday.  Heaven forbid I leave the garage door open....it lets in the pollen and we can't have that now, can we.  I caught him on line looking on the Jag website at "snow socks"  Snow socks!!! Really??!!  They look like booties you wear into an operating room but instead of putting them on your feet, you put them on the rear tires whilst wearing orange latex gloves.  Apparently they add some sort of traction while driving through ice and snow.  I laughed so hard at the video that I hope I have dissuaded him from looking into those further.  Oh, and the biggest news is that the car has a chip in the windshield, the heated windshield, already.  Good grief, and I thought I was high maintenance....