Bijou prepares for her last ride, on the back of Froggy’s Towing Truck (2014)

Approx. read time: 2:10 min.

Ten years ago this week I bid adieu to my beloved Bijou. I watch, with mixed emotions, as she’s strapped to the back of Froggy’s Towing Truck. And I’ve never looked back.

Not only have I never looked back, but I’ve fallen forward into new ways of being in my world: carfree, with all of its freedoms and, yes, some limitations.

Granted, my car was 25 years old, and what do you expect? A car that runs predictably at all times?

Bijou still had that near-vintage touch of class, with near-perfect interior and a great sound system.

So, I donated her to charity, and I’m sure that her parts have circulated for a pretty penny.

But it’s the inside story, the story of my interior conversion of heart, that amazes me.

In my story “Byebye Bijou,” when my car engine dies for the last time, I ask myself: Would my world unravel if I didn’t have a car?

My eyes drift into middle space. In this moment, I notice, I am free—utterly free—to imagine my life differently.

Where do I go where bus lines do not go? And I have to admit: Nowhere!

Sure, my life, on some days, includes consulting bus schedules, arriving at the stop a couple of minutes early, experiencing the kindness of younger passengers who cede their seat to me; exchanging brief greetings with friendly drivers, and bidding them a peaceful day when I deboard. And, at my age, I ride for free!

My life also consists of no car expenses: no loan payments, no insurance, no maintenance, no inconvenient breakdowns, no repairs, no gas, no parking fees, no anxiety over finding a place to park.

But it’s the interior piece, imagining my life differently, that has shaped me the most. Without a car, I accept—in real ways—my human limitations, my insufficiencies, in a world that prizes self-sufficiency. For people with meager financial resources, public transit is their only option. I can ride with them.

And if I don’t want to support Big Oil, or Big Auto, then I need to stop asking for their product.

But mostly, the interior piece is about following Jesus. 

If I really want to follow Jesus, I have to get out of my bubble, go where he goes, and love whom and what he loves. The Gospels show him gravitating toward those who suffer, those who are least, lost, bereft of options or easy solutions; those who don’t fit King Mammon’s demographic.

Sample and download my audio story “Byebye Bijou” here. And read it in my collection of stories Living as Jesus Taught here.

Ten years without a rearview mirror! And I’m free to never look back.

What lifestyle choices have allowed you to imagine your life differently? Let me know!