In 2008, I was 44. My kids were grown and gone. I was writing my first novel. I was president of my Rotary Club. I wanted to buy my dream car. In the previous 23 years, hubby had done all vehicle purchases for the family. I hated his boring choices. I wanted a fun, cute car that got amazing fuel economy. So, I saved. I spent $10,000 of my own money on my dream car: A 2000 TDI New Beetle that was dubbed “Sheila the Bug.”
Sheila was quickly adorned with decals of butterflies and flowers. She became a fixture in town. Everyone knew when I was at an event. People spotted me on highways and wrote to ask where I was going. Everyone smiled when they saw her (except the jerk who keyed her in the parking lot of the Delta South Hotel in Calgary or the people whose friends punched them because they didn’t read the sign that she is a “HUG BUG-no punches allowed!” So many little girls eyes lit up as they whispered, “I LOVE YOUR CAR!” She got 1000 km on a tank. I could drive to Calgary and back to the Shuswap on a single tank! What a gal!
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Sheila even hosted a celebrity passenger! In 2014 I picked up Outlander author Diana Gabaldon at the airport to bring her to our local writing conference. When she got into the car, she noticed what was in my bud vase and laughed, “Pocket Jamie gets around!” In my nervous excitement I forgot how to shift gears for a few minutes as we drove through the parking lot! When we were stopped by a paving crew for 20 minutes when we were almost in town, it was the most fun I’d had while stopped by a flagger, as we chatted about what it was like to film her cameo performance in the MacKenzie’s Gathering episode of the Outlander TV show.
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And heavens- I almost forget her ALMOST celebrity passenger! In 2013, we drove by Jamie Fraser himself (that is, Sam Heughan) when he was stranded with his brother on the side of the road in the Trans-Canada Highway as we were going to Calgary! I wrote about that experience here.
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Sheila had 145,000 km when I bought her. We have shared 158,000 km in our 15 years together. We drove as far south as Ellensberg, WA, as far west as Vancouver Island, as far north and east as Stettler AB (not very east or north, really!) I’d aimed to get to 400,000, but it is not to be.
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I have purchased my second car, a 2017 Honda Fit/Honda Jazz. She’s only got 35,000 km. She’ll get a few of Sheila’s decals on her butt in tribute to my first beloved car, so full of character and fun.
Happy trails, Sheila. We’ll miss you.
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Pocket Jamie sat in my bud vase for a decade. He was a promotional item made for the first season of Outlander (which remains the only season I have seen in its entirety. By season 2 they’d made too many changes to Diana’s books for me).
Shawn L. Bird 