Car Talk

About three weeks ago, Matt and I went to Atlanta for the weekend. He went for an HPDE (High Performance Drivers Education) at Road Atlanta, and I went to see my old roommates from college to have a girls weekend of shopping and hanging out.

Back in September, Matt got his "play car", and I spent a lot of time complaining about being a car widow while he spent all of his time getting it running and upgrading several things on it. (I have to admit, though, it really is a cool toy)

He's always been into cars. In college, his friends even started their own AU-sanctioned car club. So, I knew what I was getting into.

The Wednesday before we went to Atlanta, the car broke down on the way home from Wed. night Bible study. Thankfully, we were in separate cars, so I went home to get the 4Runner and towed Matt's broken best friend home. Then he had to spend the rest of the time before our trip replacing the alternator and I watched our Netflix movies alone.

Here he is driving it on the track in Atlanta:

I told him that after the weekend, I needed a week that was car-speak-free. Then the other night, on the way home from dinner, he stopped mid-story to say, "Oh wait, that's car related, nevermind, I'm not allowed to talk about it." I felt horrible.

I don't want him to feel like he can't talk to me about what's on his mind (which, unfortunately for me, is 99% car-related), but sometimes I do need a break from it. I don't understand what he's talking about most of the time anyway, and it's hard to stay interested in the conversation. This is probably how he feels when I go off about planning my flower beds, but he's always very patient with me.

So, I apologize and try to make a compromise. When we only talk about cars, we're not talking about me (here lies the root of the problem). Sometimes I get tired of talking about the car because I like to feel more important. (boy, do I sound selfish!) Matt tells me that we can spend more time talking about planning trips and other things we can do together, and I tell him that we (he) can talk cars.

Of course, I would never ask him to cut back on listening to "Car Talk". I love that radio show, and enjoy listening to it with him on Saturday mornings. The best part is watching him try to figure out the problem before they say it. He's so smart!