About 1.5 years ago, my friend Molly came into town for business and we met for dinner. I picked her up at her hotel and we drove to a nearby restaurant. Right away, Molly asked what that noise was. "What noise?" was my answer. I had gotten so used to it, that I didn't even hear it anymore.
"The sound of money clinking together.", Molly replied.
"Oh, THAT noise." I came back with.
There was a time when Ian would love to sit in the driver's seat and play with every button, switch, dial he could get his hands on. Thinking back, I believe Ian was either just about 2 or approaching his 2nd birthday. As long as the keys to the car were in my hands, I didn't mind and actually enjoyed knowing he was in one spot long enough to allow me to unload the car of groceries, packages and such. I just always had to be prepared when turning the car on again that the air or heat would be on at full speed, the windshield wipers would be on full force and the radio would be loud enough for my parents to hear it in Florida. Sometimes it would be a few hours before getting back in the driver's seat and it would get ya by surprise. Other times, I'd be ready for it.
One day Ian discovered the little compartment that held spare change. I didn't realize what evil things he could dream up with the coins until I went to buckle my seat belt. Yes, there would be a pesky little penny or dime sitting in the slot. OMG! That was a hard one to get out. And then I realized what else he could do with the change. Ian managed to put the coins in the steering wheel. Somehow he could get pennies, dimes, nickels and quarters in this tiny amount of space of the steering wheel where the air bag lives. Every time you go to turn the wheel, which as you know is a constant thing when driving, the change jingles back and forth. How annoying! I tried to get the change back out, but was unsuccessful. All I could think about was what if I got into an accident major enough to deploy the air bag? Not only would that come shooting at my face, but the spare change too. I can't imagine that would feel very good.
A few months passed and the next time I was at the dealership for an oil change I asked them to get the change out. The service rep said it would cost $100 as they have to work around the air bag and get it back in working order. At this point it wasn't worth spending $100 on it and I was willing to live with it. Like I said to my friend Molly, I don't even really hear it anymore. It has become background noise.
The day has come! We took the car into Honda for some maintenance on Saturday and come to find out there was an air bag recall on the driver's side. Woo-hoo!!!! Now the change would be taken out on someone else's dime (no pun intended!). Gone for good. I am sure the tech would be surprised when opening it up and seeing all this change come out. But then, he just needs to look in the back seat and see the two car seats for an easy explanation.
I am happy to report that at 120,000 miles my car is back to sounding almost quiet. Unfortunately there is still a penny or two floating around. It's okay though, when we are all back in our assigned seats, the noise level more than makes up for the sound of coins clinking together.
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