My father loved to tell the story about his first job as a kid at the Red Carpet Car Wash. He was 15, and it was back in the day when a hose, a bucket and a chamois were the tools of the trade. It was hard work, but he took great pride in it. I think that’s part of the reason his whole life he was adamant that a car should always be clean.
When I was a teen, with a car of my own, I wasn’t always diligent about keeping my car clean. One day my father said to me, “A pretty girl shouldn’t drive a dirty car--let’s go.” We hopped into my Datsun B210 and drove to -- you guessed it -- Red Carpet Car Wash. I expected a lecture about responsibility, a scolding for letting the car get so dirty. But none of that happened. Instead, it turned out to be a fun afternoon with my dad listening to him reminisce about working at the car wash as a kid.
What my father said that day stuck. Which I realized later, was the point. “A pretty girl shouldn’t drive a dirty car”. He wasn’t talking about vanity, he was instilling confidence, self-worth, and personal pride in his daughter. It was his way of telling me that he valued me, and that I should show I valued myself too in all that I did.
He would remind him for many years about that day, and what he said. He would laugh, acknowledging the importance he placed on a clean car.
It has been a long, snowy winter, and my car has been full of salt, grime and dirt for months. But the sun was shining bright this week. So on the first day of spring, I went to the car wash. I think my father was probably smiling in heaven. I was smiling at the thought of him...
Leah