TYPTYP1

For the past 18 years that mumbo-jumbo has been my nickname and my license plate.  People have mispronounced it several times and asked, "What does tip tip mean?"  To which I would reply, in my un-sassiest tone possible, "It is a Y, which is a long I sound, TYPE TYPE..." as in typing because that is what I do for a living.  My mom came up with it 18 years ago when I purchased my first new car, a 1994 Ford Escort, red, stick-shift.  (I loved that little car.)  I think the second choice for the plate, if I remember correctly, was YEEHAW.  Apparently, no one else in the state had TYPTYP on their plates.  Imagine that.  It is my regret to announce that TYPTYP1 is retired.

So why did I retire TYPTYP1?  I took the plunge and followed in my grandma's footsteps.  I traded my Mercury Mountaineer in for a Ford F150 4x4 pickup truck.  It was time to give up the family car, which may seem a little strange because we still have our children.  Lately I have been using Jay's truck because I was pulling something somewhere that needed a hitch.  This past year, we purchased a small used camper and we have a two-horse bumper-pull trailer that we cart our horses around in.  We are always hauling something around with us, and if we ever decide to go camping and bring the horses, now we can do it! 

I am sure there will be times when I miss the Mountaineer, but I'm feeling pretty good about the truck.  I am very comfortable in it and it drives as nice as a car.  The drawback was that I could not transfer my passenger car plates to it.  So the state will be issuing me some random, run-of-the-mill license plate, and for months no one will wave at me or know where I'm at :)

Maybe next August when it is time to renew the sticker, I'll apply for 1TYPTYP and see what happens.  Jay plans to put the TYPTYP1 on the golf cart for now.  I will probably hang the other one in my office at work or in the garage or something.  It seems like the end of something and it's kind of sad, but I don't know why...it is just a license plate.

It was kind of funny, before the truck-shopping process when people were assessing the Mountaineer, I neglected to vacuum out the back and didn't notice until a day or two ago.  I had forgotten that recently the kids and I had hauled alfalfa bales to the horses in my car and it was still a mess.  It was a sign...that it was time for a truck.  My grandma drove a truck until she was about 92...I am not sure I'll go quite that long but you never know.