This past weekend I took my absolutely filthy car through the car wash. I do not commonly do this as it seems rather extravagant to me. Lately though, I’ve been so busy and my car has been getting increasingly caked with farm dirt and debris from the ever-muddy roads – so I kind of justified it.
Still – I felt it was wrong or unfair of me to go through the car wash without H. He shares my perhaps unreasonable exuberance about the whole magical process. So it took me a while to get to the time when I needed gas, and H was with me, and we had the time, and… and… all the planets aligned schedule wise.
This past weekend we did it!!
We both love the feeling of being in another world, combined with the exciting force of the spray against the windows and being that close to it – but remaining dry. There is a wonderment of being inside a machine inside the machine.
The car was sprayed with water as we edged in. H read all the instructions for me to follow (spectacular). Once we were fully into the process and the car was completely encased in white soapy foam, H announced with excitement:
Mom… this is what if feels like to be inside a tic tac!
I love that kid!
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If you liked this post… you might like this one as well. It seems to go with the theme: https://30daysofautism.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/tic-tacs-a-light-hearted-look-at-autism-intervention/
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30 Days of Autism is a project designed to fight stigma, promote civil rights, and increase understanding and acceptance for those who process and experience the world differently.
© Leah Kelley, Thirty Days of Autism, (2012)
Thirty Days of Autism 
This is fantastic. I have a love of car washes as well… and, like you, try to avoid them as long as possible, until the car starts leaving marks on ME when I brush up against it…
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“This is what it’s like to be inside a tic-tac.” I love that. By the way, does anyone NOT like sitting inside the car while it rolls along through the car wash? It’s one of my great memories! Before anyone feels really sorry for me, I have a great many wonderful memories, the car wash being just one. We live in New York City so we don’t own a car anymore, but when we visit my mother in Colorado, I’ll have to remember to take my daughter, Emma to the car wash. I’ll bet she’d love it. And she also has such creative ways of describing experiences.
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You found your way back! Hhhmmmm… Electronic bread crumbs… Yay!
I must agree that the creative expressions of perspective that some of our kids bring to the table are really something that I delight in.
And yes… you will have to take Emma through the car wash… in Colorado! I bet she’ll love it and your Mom will have a clean car!
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Yay! Living in the Northeast with salty winter roads, we go once a month. My son’s recent observation was that it was like being in an Easter egg! Thank you for sharing your joy!
🙂
Lori
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