Let’s face it. Men go through a mid-life crisis just like women. With one difference. Woman go through menopause and put up with it. Men either get a mistress or a sports car. I still don’t know what women get.

Lately Rick has been talking “sports car.” Well, actually since we arrived in New Jersey I’ve been getting the “wouldn’t it be nice to” (have a convertible) speech. Lots and lots of convertibles here! You don’t see them that much back in Colorado and I’m not sure exactly why. Like swimming pools: lots here; not so much back there. The season is about the same, so it’s a mystery to me.

The other day on the way to the Great Falls I was talking to neighbor Kim about how Rick had called me up out of the blue and said he’d been down to the Mazda dealer looking at Miatas. He wanted me to drop by on our way back from the falls to look at a 2009 that they could make a good deal on. We joked about the sports car vs. mistress thing.

Kim had words of wisdom for me. She said:
“Well, if you let him choose the mistress then you might lose him to the mistress AND the mistress will probably let him have the car too.”
Good point.

Over the past few days we’ve been talking a lot about the pros and cons. Kim has been a big help. First, I heard from Rick that as we were leaving the dealership she gave him a double “thumbs up” behind my back. Then when I went back to Great Falls with Rick the following day so he could see them, she sent me an email that said something like “How convenient that the Mazda dealership is on the way back. Better take that checkbook!” Then today she sent Rick (and not me) an email saying “what a beautiful day to be out tooling around in a tiny sport car…” Isn’t she a big help? Well, it was a beautiful SPRING day (which arrived today at around 1:30 p.m.) with 70 degree weather and sunshine.

I am sorry to report that Rick chose the mistress. She’s younger than me. She is certainly a lot more agile than me. She is sassy. She is always ready to go. She always wears red.

Meet Mia.

Okay, Rick, when did you say you were going away on that business trip so I can drive her?

P.S. This is not the I-can-give-you-a-good-deal-on 2009 model we first looked at. Of course not.