What It Takes to Become a Classic

     I couldn’t help but admire this Ford F1 parked outside a barbecue smoke house near our home. The only things holding it together are rust and memories.
     When this model rolled off the assembly line, it provided wheels for my parents’ generation that was piecing together lives after World War II. The sprightly pickup first hauled drivers on dirt roads, then interstates, then clogged beltways. It’s taken travelers uphill and down on stock market rides. It’s watched passengers transition from mainframes to desktops to smartphones. It’s moved people from matchbox houses to McMansions and back to tiny houses.
​     Somewhere along the way, this particular truck lost an eye and turned into a stumbling Cyclops, struggling to read the road ahead. What a ride it’s taken on its way to becoming a classic. What a ride it’s been for all of us who carry rust on our fenders and lots of memories and are trying to read the road ahead in confusing times. But if we keep bumping along life’s highway, maybe we, too, will someday earn the title of classic.