Member-only story
I Changed My Own Wiper Blades Today
Minor triumphs that mean so much
It didn’t start out like this. My first car was a 1965 Dodge Dart — older than me! — with an engine so simple, you could look right through it and see the road beneath.
I learned every part of that engine. (Admittedly, there weren’t very many of them, which was why you could see through it.) The family friend who helped us find the car taught me how it all worked, and how to change the oil, how to jump the car (or another car) — so many useful things.
I don’t even remember all the things I learned then, back when I was an eager newly driving, newly car-owning seventeen-year-old, because it all changed after that.
Cars got more complicated, and I got…busier? Less willing to get my hands oily? I don’t know.
I just know that, though I can add wiper fluid, oh and of course gasoline (though I almost unlearned that living in Oregon for seven years), I wouldn’t have any idea how to change the oil — or do anything else, really — in my current car.
I think part of the problem was urban living. In a big, dense city, you often don’t have a driveway (or, perish the thought, a garage) where you can work on your car. You do, however, have mechanics in easy walking distance of your home, most likely. At least, I did…
