Big Little Moments - The Mini Cooper

When I was in high school, in Jamaica, my parents drove a teeny, tiny, bright yellow, Mini Cooper. At the time, I was really embarrassed to climb out (literally!) of that thing. These days, though, I have a new appreciation for my past and childhood...




My sister and I use to attend an all-girl Catholic high school. It was called Holy Childhood, and every morning our parents would drive us to school. Only I wish they hadn't.  (I'll tell you more about my school in the next post.)  Secretly, I wished they would drop us off down the street, so that we could walk to school, and no one would see our car!

I always felt like time froze each time we got dropped off. Once my parents drove through the gate of our school, I truly believed every student in the courtyard just stopped in awe, with mouths wide open, as we took the circular drive of the school. What was actually a seven-second drive felt painfully longer to me, as the tiny car made its way around the semi-circular driveway, always carefully stopping dead smack in front of the coolest girls.  My mother would step out of the car, push the seat forward (it only had two doors!) to let my sister and I climb out of the car in utter shame and embarrassment. I hated those days!

Now, I look back at those days with humor. Now I wish I owned a peppy and compact car like the Mini Cooper. I'm sure it would be a hoot to drive, being able to whip in and out of the smallest spaces. Don't you think?

Last week I shared this story with my students. We're working on writing personal narratives, and I guess because I'm having them think back to powerful small moments in their lives, it's making me do the same. The cool thing about sharing my stories with them is it's making them remember things that truly matter to them.

After telling that story, one of my students came up to me and told me that his dad also drove a yellow Mini Cooper. His face lit up as he shared how some of his favorite memories, with his dad, were in that car. He doesn't see his dad that much anymore because he's all the way on the West Coast.  I can relate. I don't see my dad that much either, and some of my favorite memories are of my family, in that little yellow Mini Cooper.