The second

Several days ago I saw a vehicle that I once owned; not the exact one, just one like it. Immediately I thought about the one I had, my second ever car, and felt nostalgic.

My first car wasn't very nice, something to do with the fact it cost me $450 and was very old - I paid for, and maintained it, myself though and that brought some satisfaction until only six months later it died and I had to find something else.

I was sixteen when I bought that first car and still sixteen when I bought the second which was a 1972 Volkswagen Type 3 1600 TLE (the 'E' stands for electronic fuel injection). I know, not the worlds' most sexy vehicle but this one was special to me as my grandfather owned it.

At first I simply drove my grandfather around as he'd broken his neck in a fall and couldn't drive. Sadly for him he never got to drive again and so I bought the vehicle and still drove him around in it when he needed. Eventually I bought it.

I loved driving and would drive to school, dropping my younger brothers at their primary school first, and took every opportunity to drive somewhere; anywhere. I washed and detailed that car weekly (I still wash and detail all my current cars and my truck weekly - always have) and paid for the servicing, registration, insurance and fuel out of the small income I made working at the supermarket after school and on the weekends.

I had a lot of fun with that car, enjoyed the freedom it brought me and was always very grateful of how meticulously my grandfather had cared for it because it turned heads. I kept it in the same, and even better, condition.

Years later I still think about it and wish I still owned it. I could buy one of course, and maybe I will someday, although they fetch in the vicinity of $30,000-$60,000 dollars these days depending on how restored it is - a massive increase from the small amount I paid for mine.

Seeing that car the other day really got me thinking about the things we have in our lives that eventually pass by and become forgotten, or rarely thought of.

That vehicle holds so many memories for me, as do many other things I've had, and it's not about the vehicle or item itself but the memories created in it and because of them.

Do you ever think this way about anything? Feel free to tell me in the comments.