home | new today | people | chronology | topics
	From: Mitch Perry Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 19:24:13 -0600 To: newbug@lists.best.com Subject: [NewBug] How has the New Beetle changed my life? I never owned a VW before, and cars were just transportation, the last 2 of my cars were actually Ford pickups. I was on this list 4 months before I got the Blue Eyes and learned allot about the car, but more importantly I gained allot of new friends. Most of my existing friends or co-workers already thought I was nuts, but they seriously considered having me committed after was infected with NBAD. Honestly, they commented on how much nicer I was and allot less aggressive. I found that the NB made me feel much more carefree, and I really enjoyed driving. I started taking vacations via car instead of plane, driving over 18K miles on 4 driving vacations. I figured as long as I had fuel money, I was happy. I also bought a few Herbies and in the beginning (June 98) people were always stopping you to talk about the NB. I gave a couple Herbies away to complete strangers and it felt so good, that I ordered more and started giving them away to other NB owners or any stranger who talked to me about the NB. I have now given away more than 200 Herbies. Blue Eyes brought Katie & I closer together. We planned a small trip to California, which grew to an 18 day, 8500 mile trip across the US & Canada. We would have never done this trip in another car, but being in a bug made it very special. I still can't believe I was lucky enough to have so much wonderful time with her last summer. Once we got back, we decided to go to Driversfest, but I had always said I didn't want to go to NYC and Katie always wanted to go, in fact she wanted to go to college there at one time. So we took 12 days and 4500 miles to find our way to NYC and back. Once Katie got Angelisa, we shared NB experiences, which gave us just another thing in common. My ex-wife didn't understand anything about my love for bugs or anything else, she would always get upset about me buying Herbies or anything else for the car. I guess it was one of the few things I ever bought for myself and not for Katie or her. I am a simple person with few needs and our lifestyles just grew further apart. I moved out September 10, 1999 and got an apartment in Birmingham, Al, 180 miles away, but where I currently work. I continued to return each weekend to visit with Katie. I started chatting with a NB list member about more than just bugs and we found that had allot more in common than our bad marriages. She was very nice, but has a fetish about Herbies:) Then Katie drove Blue Eyes to heaven on Christmas day. Blue Eyes protected me from harm but there was nothing he could do about the call box pole that crushed Katie. That single event was the most painful thing in my life, I hate the a NB was involved, but it was meant to be. I just hate that it was in Blue Eyes (98 TDI) rather than Angelisa (99 gas guzzler). Naomi got divorced in November and we continued to chat and talk on the phone. Since she is in NY (more than 1100 miles away) we have not been able to actually see each other often. She has been the only bright spot in the last 6 months, someone that really helped me get through all the pain of loosing my best friend & daughter, Katie. I hope to continue to share my life with her, someone who really understands my love for New Beetles plus a carefree and simple lifestyle. We will be bringing Angelisa to R2K together, but leaving Speed Buggy at home. One of the few, the proud, the bugmen, Mitch