Test drives

In the past month I test drove four cars. The prospect of walking into a dealership with the possibility of buying a car is intimidating, at least for most people I know, and particularly for women. In three of the four instances as I walked in, there were at least four men standing not exactly in a line, kind of waiting for their next victim. I decided to take control from the beginning."I don't care which of you helps me. I'd like to test drive a ____," is what I said when I looked at the line of salesmen.

Driving three cars that were very different from what I've been used to, got me thinking about other things we try on in life to see what works best for us. There are the dressing rooms where we check out sizes and colors and materials and styles of clothing before making a purchase. Play dates help kids have fun and also begin to figure out who might and might not become good friends. Dating and all the rituals associated with that introduces us to different types of potential mates or special relationships. An engagement takes a couple to another level before the commitment of marriage. 

Internships give young people a chance to check out a company or an industry to see if what they think they would like to pursue as a career is really a good match. Internships also allow a company to see if the candidate not only has the needed skills, but is also a good fit in the organization's culture. At the other end of one's work life, reducing hours to part time lets us begin to experience what retirement might be like.

When we prepare to move, we may drive through different neighborhoods at various times of day to get a sense of what living there might be like. Then, as we settle in to a new home, we check out all the local haunts until we find our favorite stores and restaurants. Some even do church shopping until they find the one or ones that fit for where they are in their faith journey. Oh, and as we decorate that new home, there are now test cans of paint so we can see how a particular color looks on a wall or in a room.

Sometimes we let others take the test drive for us. Before spending time and money on a movie or at the theater or a restaurant, we read reviews. With experience, we learn whose opinion we tend to trust. Of course, there are times when we just want to see a movie and go regardless of what the experts said. Chefs and cooks taste what they are making as they go along. Quality control assures that items on the manufacturing line pass the necessary tests. 

As I read this to see what a new reader might take away from their test drive of my writing, I realized there were three options to bring this to a close. One is a reminder this season to be grateful that we are in a place where we have opportunity to test drive so many areas of our lives even as we remember those who do not. The second is to issue a challenge to us all to plan to test drive something new in the coming months. Whether it is trying a new genre of book, a new exercise regimen or a new social venture, take a test drive that stretches your world. Oh, finally, what was the result of all my car shopping? I bought an electric blue VW beetle! 

Marilyn