Car Wash Rainbow
Every once in a while I run into some cool technological marvel that brings the wide-eyed child in me onto her feet, exploding with excitement. I grew up in a pretty low-tech culture—India in the 50’s and 60’s—so it doesn’t take a lot to enthrall me.
This week, it was my first drive through a Touchless Car Wash. My little blue Toyota Matrix was covered in summer dust so thick that squirting it with wiper fluid and turning on the windshield wipers merely smeared the glass with brown sludge. So yesterday I went to my local gas station, paid $9.95 for a wash ticket, and drove around the back of the parking lot to the car wash.
After I’d punched in my ticket number at a sunshine-yellow gatekeeper gizmo who looked a bit like Yoda, but without a face, a green light came on, directing me to drive slowly forward into the car wash’s concrete cave. Inside, jets of water sprayed upward, whispering of underground springs, cleaning the mud off my car’s under-carriage.
Virgo heaven!
While I was still grinning with delight, another green light beckoned me deeper into the cave. Not sure what creatures inhabited its recesses, I inched forward.
Then, a great magic wand wafted over my car, releasing streams of water that sluiced down the sides like monsoon rain. Moments later, a celestial starburst of pink-and-blue-and-yellow foam spurted from on high, covering the windows in softly melting sparkles of color.
I sat there enthralled, wrapped softly inside a foaming rainbow. My inner five-year-old got so excited, I honked the horn, which echoed and re-echoed eerily in the rainbow cave.
By the time the dryers had whooshed the last droplets of water off the windshield, I’d had enough excitement for the day. I drove home, crawled into bed and had a nap.
And dreamed of whooshing rain and foaming rainbows.
How about you? What wonders danced into your life this week?
Get updates with RSS
Get updates via email
Follow me on Twitter
My LinkedIn profile
This post made me smile. I love the car wash. Honking your horn? Awesome! And the rainbow-ey colored foam is my favorite part.
I actually go to the car wash when I feel stressed, and need a little mini-retreat. (Yeah, somehow car wash translates as mini-retreat in my head.)
This week I’ve had a few wonder-filled moments.
One was when my sweet wife called me outside to see a praying mantis crawling on the marigolds. I sat the on the steps. The mantis sat on the flower. We watched each other for about ten minutes.
Another was playing some new singing bowls. Which always feels like unraveling a mystery to me. Riding the sound waves. Seeing where they goes. Digging every delicious bit.
And, lastly, the weather cooled enough so that I could really enjoy being outside. So I’ve been spending some time on the porch. Smelling the air. Feeling fall coming. Feeling the calm. And, at the same time, getting excited, because it’s my favorite time of year.
Thanks for this beautiful post. I loved it. And I’ll be visiting a car wash soon. I’ll think of you when the rainbow-ey foam starts.
Fabeku´s last post … The Sex Pistols Are Spiritual Too
Yes, another reason I love you! I yell in bike tunnels to hear the sound. It’s like Virgos gone mad…. I’ll have to visit the car wash soon.
Christine Martell´s last post … How are you really spending your time?
My latest wonder was taking a virtual car wash w/ you & your 5 yr. old self just now! I feel all refreshed,squeaky clean, and ready for more dancing wonders today. Who needs dancing shoes? Thanks, Hiro!
Judy´s last post … Believe. Pray. Act.
I love the car wash too! I love how the washer towels shimmy around the car.
Yesterday, I sat with a dear friend at the local bakery, and we shared a whoopie pie, and it was the best thing I had ever eaten. Two bites, plus lots of laughter. Friendship is a wondrous thing!
Bridget´s last post … On Hiatus
This post brings back such memories of going through the carwash with my mom when I was little.
Back then, it wasn’t touchless, though. The rainbow effect came from the red and blue brush-y things that scrubbed all the grime off the car.
I was always mesmerized by the car being completely ensconced in nylon bristles.
Victoria Brouhard´s last post … Retreeeeeeat! Mind Blown, Site Launched
Ah, what a lovely new perspective on going through a car wash. I haven’t been through a touch less car wash in a bit. I usually end up in one where you go sit in a waiting room while you watch your car go through. Interesting way to meet a variety of people, but I do miss the being surrounded by gales of water coming safely at you.
Yesterday, my husband called me from our bedroom. I knew from his tone that something cute was going on and he couldn’t come to get me. My husband is a soccer official so he is outdoors in park type areas a lot and I am sure his stuff gets covered with interesting scents. One of our cats was laying on hubby’s fanny pack, purring as loud as can be, rubbing against it, claws opening and closing. He does the claw thing when he is super happy. I guess the cat, a humane society rescue, was remembering some happy times from his youth when he ran free in the woods, smelling something good in that pack. Just watching his joy was joyful!
Hiro,
Thank you so much for taking the time to describe this. I bopped over from Havi’s comments when I saw the name of your last post because I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the touchless car wash all out of proportion to what it is, and it makes me feel as relaxed as an hour of dancing. (Okay, maybe 30-minutes-of-dancing level relaxedness. But still.)
Vacuuming with my Dyson that does not spit itchiness back out into the air is right up there with the carwash and dancing. (My husband knows things are out of kilter when he comes home to find me anxiety vacuuming.) When I worked at MobilOil, back pre-Exxon, our offices and cubicle area were vacuumed every day about the same time after lunch. I learned quickly to save an involving task for that time lest someone come in and find me asleep on the floor, having slid out of my chair when my bones melted to the tune of the vacuum.
Paige
Hi Hiro,
Double YAYAY! I experienced my first touchless car wash a few weeks ago and like you, was totally enthralled by the coloured foam that made it feel like the sun went and hid behind the clouds for a few minutes.
My children were with me and my inner five year old held much much more excitement and enthusiasm to be sharing it with them.
They joys of a very clean car – that rainbow foam really does a good job…even by Virgo standards!
Thank you for sharing and recreating this experience for me with your words!
Love it
x
Marilyn´s last post … T[S]weet Retreat!
I whole heartedly concur, and I share the obsession of cars and car accessories, but nothing tops cruising down the freeway in my cherokee and blasting my train horn at every car i pass! In my opinion, no car is complete unless it has a unnaturally loud train horn! Pushing my crazy horn obsession aside for a second, and stepping back into reality just to tell you that your Car Wash Rainbow page provided me with some previously non existent info on a subject close to my heart. It’s great to find other folks with a like minded attitude.