I've been giving this subject some thought. (This is your cue to run if you don't like when I do that
).
I'm still not sure of the OP's motivations for starting this thread really, but like everyone else here, I've certainly
enjoyed reading all the responses (yes, even yours Steve
).
The results of my thought process on this?
I've decided to reject out of hand the "either/or" supposition of the premise, actually.
Why must everything in life be distilled down to making us pick either THIS or THAT - and if you don't agree with
me on choosing THAT over THIS, then you're a "prick" or whatever name I care to muster up?
I don't get it. Overly simplified, perhaps, but I reject the whole premise on this particular topic.
I'll tell you why...
Travelling, vacationing, seeing the world is all good, of course. It's very important to some and one can't really
argue against such, really. After all, to quote my favorite band Rush - "we're only immortal, for a limited time."
Get out there and see the joint while you still can!
Life's too short...in short.
I get that viewpoint.
By the same token, there are those for which such things are not as big a deal and there's nothing wrong with that,
either. We spend a considerable amount of time in this life trying to figure out our
purpose for being here - and just
as much time trying to discover
where we belong and
who we belong with, too, oftentimes.
The truly blessed amongst us find out the where's and who's and why's and are correctly content in settling in right
there, without the need for further exploration of the planet.
I get that viewpoint, too.
Ok, on to what I
think the topic of this whole thread is about - the juxtaposition of our hobby's cars as just as valid
an expenditure of leisure money as travel is.
Folks have made their cases for one THIS or the other THAT in reply and there's validity in all of them, naturally.
Let me toss in a wild card in all this to further muddy the waters, though:
I've travelled a fair bit especially early in life. My wife and I have made many a weekend trip here and there as my
circumstances have allowed in recent years, too, as there's plenty to learn and see and do regionally as well, thankfully.
I'm blessed that I'm now married to a woman who not only foolishly thinks I'm worth sticking around through all manner
of aggravation but also is quite content to relax at home as much as anything else - she actually
prefers that, in fact.
I'm usually the instigator when it comes to wandering about the countryside.
After much consternation over the years, the reason I was finally able to drag out of her was that here, on the side of
the ridge, is where she feels she
belongs. Such revelations delight me to no end, as you might imagine, since I specifically
chose this tiny spot on the map for the same reason almost 20 years ago.
When you know, you just
know - you know?
She's found out the wheres, the whys, the whos and she's perfectly content to just be here with me....
and all that is a long-winded way of getting to my point:
I submit that the
memories - the
special part of travelling so many speak of - are majorly a result of
who you experienced
it with and how you felt with those folks as much as wherever you wound up going.
You went with who you wanted to be with, went where you wanted to go with them and had a plan on why you went specifically
there as opposed to anywhere else - but the people and the emotions, the memories are what mattered, not geographic locations.
If not - I submit you're doing it wrong.
Follow me here?
Ok, here's where I tie it back in to the cars:
The whole process of finding a special car is one that's emotional, too.
The ordeal of bringing one back from the grave or customizing it to your taste or reconnecting to memories of younger years
is personified oftentimes in that overpriced chunk of metal and rubber sitting in your shop.
There are milestones of that whole process - timeline entries along the restoration; people you've met along the way while fetching this part or
attending that show; humorous stories of the time you went on wild goose chases across state lines in pursuit of this or that.
A favorite relative helping or inspiring that have since left us; fascinating characters that were instrumental to success, now departed.
Critical events in our lives that occurred along the way that threw up roadblocks to progress, to be overcome.
You see where I'm going here?
These cars can be, and often are, just as much (or even more) of a journey to be travelled as that trip to Hawaii was.
Remember what I wrote earlier about it being the
people that went with you on the trip being the important part?
Yeah, about that part...
They are all that really matters in the end - who you're with to share this whole journey.
Told ya I could tie the two together.
