My Inner Child had a playdate today.

I should begin at the beginning. In 2005, I was driving a Dodge Neon. I have had much better cars and also much worse and it got me to work and around town. The computer started being funny, doors would lock and unlock, sometimes it wouldn't start and the idea occurred to me that I needed to pass it on before the repairs began to eat me alive.

One early evening, I was driving in the parking lot at my neighborhood Costco and I saw this funny white box. I hit the brakes, parked and got out to take a look. It was love at first sight. During the '60's, I had one of the first VW bugs in the Imperial Valley. It really belonged to my brother in law who was overseas but my sister didn't drive and I just had to keep the battery charged. In my heart I felt a relationship between the funny blue bug and this strange white box. I had to have one!

I began an online search, checking the inventory of the various Scion/Toyota dealerships in Las Vegas. The Xb's were hard to find and not easily available but about the middle of February I found one. On the next Saturday,for my 65th birthday present to myself, I waltzed in with my dear husband and bought it. The dealer referred me to a private party for a custom alarm and locking system and I made an appointment for the following day.

Big Bill worked out of his garage. When we arrived, he had pulled his own Xb into a parking space and I parked next to it. I took one look at his car and said "OMG how can I do that". He looked at this little silver haired lady and said "Do you really want to do this! It's called modding or tricking out your car." "Yes, you bet I do", I replied and life has not been the same since.

I named the car "Bogiebx" (aka Boogie) since I was limited in letter/number space for a custom plate. In Nevada, when you request a custom plate, you have to give a specific reason for what you want, so I said I was a silver haired Granny who just wanted to boogie down the road playing her tunes. I got the plate!

Big Bill was a member of a group known as "Scion Evolution" which had chapters all over the US. Most of the members got a kick of this ole lady modding her car and Bill got me some really good deals. In time Boogie went from stock to mod. We lowered her an inch with TRD (Toyota Racing Division) springs, put on custom Koenig rims (wheels to you), limo tinted her windows, installed a carbon fiber "fat ass" spoiler and a double vented, two sided carbon fiber show hood. The list goes on and on. Needless to say, Granny and Bogiebx became pretty well known in California and Nevada. This was the greatest group of car lovers, both guys and gals who really loved these funny rolling boxes and saw in them the opportunity to express themselves and make the cars their own.

As Gordon's Alzheimer's progressed, I cut back my activities and stopped working on my car. The last couple of years have been very difficult financially and emotionally. A car like Boogie needs constant upkeep and my heart hasn't been with her. Bill has been gently nudging me and doing what he could to keep her going. About a year ago, he removed the "fat ass" carbon fiber spoiler since it wasn't holding up in the heat. He also found a fellow who wanted my show hood and arranged an exchange for a metal hood. Friends in LA called from a garage sale and wanted to know if I wanted to go back to an OEM style spoiler; they purchased one and sent it up by Scion mule train.I carried it in the back seat for nearly a year. Bill arranged to have it painted the same black as the hood by a new friend, Ben, who had seen Boogie on the street and asked in a car club post if anyone know who owned her.

All of this brings me to today. Boogie and I had a play date with Bill this morning after he took his darling wife, Lizzy, to work. He waxed the spoiler and installed it, installed the fluid system for the windshield wiper fluid, we pulled the new grill and I paste waxed it. He worked on the paint streaks left by a scam artist who ran into me on a bicycle in January, bounced off my front fender and tried to hold up my insurance company. Then we took her out to a car wash and hosed her down. Tomorrow I will take her in for a detail job. Bill checked out my sound system and at some point we will upgrade it. I only know one volume, cranked up! Give me that old time Rock n Roll with Bob Segar or some Blue Eyes with Willie Nelson, maybe Bag Pipes playing Scotland the Brave, even Placido Domingo with John Denver! I love my tunes!!! To and from the car wash, the system is cranked and Bill just looks at me and shakes his head.

OK, my body may be 69, my hair may be silver and I may look like Mrs. Santa but what you see isn't what you get and my inner child comes out to play whenever she wants!

Boogie On Granny! There is still life in this ole gal and I believe, one last love!