Kids, smiles and the MINI

[TWISTER]

So I need to tell everyone this great thing that happens to me daily as I drive to work. Let me set the scene, I drive from the outskirts of Winston-Salem to downtown every day on Reynolda Road. It's a normal commute road for a lot of drivers to downtown. There is everything from buses to contractor vehicles to moms or dads taking their kids to school. It's most likely the same kind of commute a lot of you take. Everyone wants to be the first in line before it narrows down to 2 lanes and away from the school buses. The one thing I do every time I drive my car is watch the driver behind me as I'm slowing down. I had a contractor truck plow into my Saturn years ago and I never want to live through that again. So anyway, today I first had a dad in a mini van with 2 kids in the back seat and one in the passenger seat, all around 9-12 years old I'm guessing. The second vehicle I noticed today was a dad with 2 young girls in the back seat of a suv. This story is all about the kids. In both instances, the kids are looking at my MINI and talking, pointing and smiling all the while. Soon after noticing the kids, I look at the driver and now he's in on the conversation they are having. They are all smiles and it just makes my day! I don't know if they are talking about my tag or other mods on the MINI or the car itself. Doesn't really matter to me, I just like seeing the smiles on their faces. It makes that daily drive not so boring.

I know most of you have stories like this, Let me know your little moment of joy. There is so much going on in our lives that makes these little things the best!

[Mini Barb]

I hear what you are saying. My husband has been out of town for a few days so I have been using his car. On my way to work today I was thinking to myself , nobody has been looking at me! I haven't driven over the speed limit in days! My coworkers have come over to my desk to ask where my MINI was? The car has certainly taken on its own autonomy!!

[BlimeyCabrio]

Yeah - the rear of my car gets lots of attention, with the Blimey plate, the UJ skull, all the other UJs, the Actual Size decal, etc... I love watching folks in the rearview mirror and see how many smiles per mile I generate... and yep, the kids are the biggest fans. :)

[MidnightDave]

Have you also noticed, people are much more courteous to us when we're in the MINI? At least for me, over the luxocruiser and the truck!

[Tom]

Best thing I have noticed is that folks can have a serious or non-happy expression :( on there face until they see the mini and then they start to smile :)

[welcha]

Here is a little different take...my 10 year old son and I are in the back yard working, when my son hears my wife returning in the MINI. We are listening to this growl and I'm thinking that she should have shut down by now. Eventually she shuts down, but my wife doesn't show at the back door to "check in". Well, I have my doubts as to it being the MINI, but my son is positive. Well, we keep working and soon hear that growl again. I peak around the end of the house just in time to see a bright red Ferrari coming back down the road, growling like the MINI! Now you know why my son loves the her!

[tarlander]

I like to see the looks of boredom that drivers, and passengers, have in the car behind me until they get closer and then see them point and talk about the mini. Then they get close enough to read the 1:1 Scale sticker and the Actual Size sticker and I see them laugh. But the best feeling was just after I got Rege. I was at a red light on 311 in Archdale when a car pulled up beside me to turn left. A small voice drew my attention and there was a small boy in the backseat saying something which I couldn't make out. The mom leaned over and said, "he said his name is Cooper too". I looked at him and said they named the car after him. He had the broadest smile when they turned. As they turned left and then right into a strip mall I turned just past it into the same mall area. I noticed that when they got out of the car he was wearing leg braces, but still with the broadest smile you could imagine on his face. Even though I had told a little white lie it really made his day. I grinned all the way home.

[Max Headroom]

As a matter of fact one of those nice, little moments happened to me today. I walked into a small sandwich shop at lunch, ordered and sat down. Across from my table was a mother with her 4 or 5 year old daughter. Apparently the little girl had been focused on something else when I had pulled into the parking space directly in front of the shop. As I sat there starting to eat my sandwich she suddenly noticed Max sitting in his parking space. While the mother was busy talking on her cell phone the little girl started exclaiming, "Mom....mom, look! A doodlebug! A doodlebug!!" She then started dancing in her seat, singing her own "doodlebug" song. I smiled quietly to myself. :)

If it isn't already there, I guess we can add "doodlebug" to the list of nicknames given to the Mini by kids who love them!

Gary