Beachfront Property

Some people know the name of their child long before the birth. Other people will wait and see what the baby looks like before they choose a name. My wife and I usually talked about a few names that we liked but we never really finalized the name until after their births.  We know one couple who waited about a month before they gave an official name to their child. They did have extenuating circumstances because the really wanted to name their child the same name as their cat, but it broke their heart to have to change the cat's name.

For reasons that are not completely known to me, I have never taken up the practice of naming personal property like cars, bikes or athletic equipment. This seems quite unusual as I compare my experience to those of others. Even my dainty wife had a full-size pick up truck that she drove when we got married. She called it Stomper. I had a hatchback Honda and I called it "the Honda." When we got a minivan, my wife called it "Stripey." I called it the van. I have just never had much imagination when it comes to naming these inanimate objects.

We have been experiencing a couple days of steady rainfall and one flash of mental lighting. For a mountain desert, these storms are not unheard of, but they only come once or twice a year. I have lived in this environment for more than four decades and, not surprisingly, have always found that if you want to stay dry, you should stay indoors. This includes any building with a roof or other enclosed spaces. I have certainly driven thousands of times without getting wet in the rain, as long as I stayed in the car.

After visiting my mother-in-law in the hospital we rushed to our car so that we could get in and stay dry. I was a bit surprised when my son opened the door and instead of getting in asked, "Why do we have a puddle in our car?" I looked at the passenger seat floor and saw a two inch deep puddle inside our car where the passenger's feet should go. The windows were up and I checked the windshield to see if there was some crack that allowed the water in.

I found nothing but my daughter in the back seat saw the leak and pointed to it. We have owned this car for thirteen years and I now know that in a rainstorm I need to park with the front end lower than the rear. Apparently, the water that runs down from the windshield and hood can channel through the gaps between the hood and side panel right into the passenger compartment. That water will pool in the depression in front of the passenger seat.

After bailing out the car, like a flash of lighting I had a name for our family car.
Malibu Beach.

My family likes it.