civics lesson

the other day, i was talking to my grandmother while navigating the J-train and the intersection at market and church. there were lots of people around, so every so often i missed a word. until she said, "your grandfather and i want to know how your car is doing because we may trade our miata in early next year and get one." wha-haaaaa? this may seem normal to the everyday, non-whitmer knowing individual. but my grandparents are in ohio, a fairly red state, and my grandmother is pretty conservative. when i was younger (think 10), when my parents would send me to stay with them for a week or two, she would insist i wear her clothes so i'd be appropriately dressed when we went "into town." this included long plaid skirts. and lace cotton blouses. and bows in my hair. and she dragged me to church. and she voted for bush in '04 because while bush was a "very bad man" and he took us to war, she couldn't see herself voted for a darn tootin' liberal like kerry even though he's of irish descent. and she loves the irish (really, you should see her fridge magnets). yet i was super impressed that at 70-something they're considering trading in their little red miata that she loves so dearly and getting a hybrid! so we chatted about our civic, and how i couldn't vouch for much yet as we've basically driven it to the airport and back, to work(todd, not me), and parked it, but so far, we've really enjoyed it, and expect to do so in the future. and at that moment, i could hear clearly. the heavens opened up, and i thanked god, buddha, and/or kurt cobain for knocking some sense into her (although somehow i think her '04 vote is more important, a plea they didn't answer). and i'm sure she thanked god and jesus in return for making me a believer. sort of.