On the Christmas morning of my 17th year, my parents gave me a gift to open. I unwrapped the small box and found a set of keys. We were temporarily living in a condo while my parents finalized the purchase of a home. My dad said to go in the condos parking lot and find my car. I first went up to sports cars; Mustangs, Corvettes etc. -no luck. Then I tried SUV's and trucks. -again, no luck. I think I tried every car until I reached the last one, it was an old, rusty, hatched back, white Chevy Nova. It was a stick shift and it was mine. I loved it.

I hadn't driven a stick before but my dad gave me a quick lesson and I pretended I knew exactly what I was doing. Later that day I drove the family to my grandparents house in my new ride. We got to the intersection of Main St and Grand River (busiest in our small town) and I stalled it. Right in the center of the intersection I sat stalled. I couldn't get her going again for what seemed like forever. It was Embarassing but eventually she started up and moved forward.

I loved that car. Wrote a song about it on my first album titled "Rusty Nova." -good times, thanks for the memory.