Week 26: 1974 VW SP2

One of the most important gifts we can give our children is solid boundaries, and understanding and respecting boundaries will serve us well into adulthood.

Boundaries, however, are not the same as limitations any more than respect is the same as fear or communication is the same as talking and talking and talking.             And talking.

These musings figure into my diecast car selection for this week, a wonderful Hot Wheels based on the actual VW SP2 from beyond the United States, a sporty little number made between 1972 and 1976 by Volkswagen do Brasil.

While a truly excellent looking car, don't expect to see one while getting your kicks on Route 66. Of 10,205 cars made, only 670 shipped to outside of Brazil, and, of those, 155 went to Nigeria. Combine those numbers with the fact that the last SP2 was born during the U.S. bicentennial, and you have a true rarity. If you want one, I suggest the Hot Wheels solution.

Because this cool little diecast is based on a sports car previously unfamiliar to me that sported in a geography far from areas of which I was familiar, I selected it as a symbol of my week, one marked by my moving beyond self-imposed limitations into areas of relative unfamiliarity. This car is also a symbol of the excitement I feel as I have solidly committed to pursuing my beliefs in regards to making a living.

Enough vagaries: for years, I've had a calling to work toward social change, yet pursuing careers in line with these ideals seemed impractical or unrealistic and there was always a reason for why I could not. Even as I created the groundwork, gained experience, pursued training and slowly began building a network of people in related fields, even as I subtly began readying myself for a change, even as I worked toward this vague goal, I'm not sure I believed I would achieve, or even actually attempt, such a move.

And then I lost my job.

But there was no immediate epiphany, however - I still stubbornly clung to old ideas of what was practical or attainable for me. I held tight to these ideas even as they began to lose credibility in my soul, even as the direction I needed to go began howling in my head like a riled up dachshund desperate to be acknowledged, until one day recently I took a look at the precious limitations I was clutching and saw they were no more than a metaphoric armload of parachute pants and terry cloth wrist bands, an armload of concepts that I think we all can agree need to be left behind.

I have accepted a contract project for an education-based organization involved in global clean-water initiatives and am talking to another organization regarding potential contract work. I've begun volunteering with causes in which I believe. I've even begun writing a short fiction piece as part of a writer collaborative project. I am ecstatic.

See, it isn't that suddenly everything has fallen into place, that I've arrived at some imagined destination, or even that I feel confident about what happens next.

Why I am ecstatic is that I finally understand I don't need any of those elements. I just need to be true and to finally listen to the noisy dachshund inside of me, because that metaphoric dog really had no intention of quieting down anyway, and it was only a matter of time before it started tearing up the furniture. I suspect it may have already taken a few bites out of at least one love seat.

So here I am, age 48, and for the first time ever I feel a sense of true direction.

But seriously, look at that little car.

Nothing has ever looked so good to me.

Note on daddy blogging: I loosely consider Daddy's Tiny Cars a part of the larger daddy blogging community, and yet this entry is noticeably missing in any mention of children. I am okay with this, however, as a daddy's journey for meaning and direction regarding work and life choices connects to the daddydom, and trust me, the kids have been present all week in all their noisy glory!

Photo of my lil' symbolic Hot Wheels #8 (from the 2010 All Stars Collection), courtesy of Phil Pekarcik. Man, I really, really like the way that car looks.


Photo of the howling dachshund by Patricia van Casteren, downloaded from her Flickr stream March 3, 2011 and used under the Creative Commons license.


Check out the Facebook fanpage of Daddy's Tiny Cars for additional links to websites with photos of the actual SP2. I'm not kidding -- that is an awesome looking car.