One day on your drive home from work, you take a
different route home than usual so you can drop off your insurance payment. Just a block off your normal route, you pass a small car dealership and on the showroom floor you see a little black BMW convertible.
As you leave your insurance agents'office, you feel compelled to go back and look at the car again. As you stand outside, looking through the glass at this new little car, you're approached by a salesman. You express your interest in the car, and the salesman begins his pitch. You're told of the performance, of the quality,
of the craftsmanship. You're told how good you'll look in the car, how your friends will be envious and how you'll get looks and smiles everywhere you go. But immediately afterword, he informs you that you don't make enough to purchase the car. It is possible, however, to lease the car, and eventually if your
finances improve, you could someday own it. So you begin pursuing that option, each day you stand at the window looking in at that beautiful car and negotiate with the dealer. The dealer tells you that as soon as your credit checks out, he'll let you take the car for a drive, but for now, you can only look at it from
outside. The process drags on...2 weeks go by, every day you stand at that window looking in, anticipating the day you'll lay your hands on the cool paint, settle into the seat, and smell the upholstery for the first time. For 2 weeks you've dreamt of driving the car, you've imagined driving slow through parking lots
and blasting past semis on the open road. You've felt the steering wheel slide beneath your fingers and laid your head back against the rest to look up at the stars. You've got the radio on... Don Henly sings "Boys of Summer". You've begun telling your friends and family about the car. "My Beemer" you coo affectionately with this huge silly grin plastered on your face. Most people roll their eyes at you saying you could never afford it, but you KNOW it's
right, you KNOW your supposed to have this car... and the dealer says its just a week until you'll touch it for the first time. Today, just like every day, you stand outside the
window looking in at your new BMW. But today is
different, the dealer didn't rush out to greet you like he has for weeks. You stand there for a long time, a little confused and finally, the dealer comes out and tells you that you have a blemish on your credit report and they won't be leasing you the car after all. You'll never drive the car, you'll never touch the
car, you'll never run your fingers along the polished woodgrain or wake up early on a Sunday just to spend the day washing it. You'll never drive in the rain with the top down and you'll never just smell the upholstery. The next day, you go to the dealership again, but this time there's a curtain drawn across the window. You can't even SEE your car anymore, and now
your family and friends are going to ask "where's your Beemer?", and you get to tell them that you weren't good enough. You try test driving other cars... first an Accord next a Camery, but even while driving them, your thoughts are loyal to the BMW. Nothing else comes
close. Nothing could. You're hurt, powerless. You try putting the car out of your mind, you tell yourself you didn't really want it
anyways but nothing works.

You haven't driven past that dealership in a year now, and are waiting for the day
when you don't think about the car just once. And that's when you see a Jetta for sale in a parking lot. You take it out for a spin and you like it! You secure a loan and soon speed away in your new (new to you anyway) Jetta. Weeks go by... maybe months and while just out cruising one sunny day "Boys of Summer" comes on the radio and it reminds you of the BMW. You
suddenly realize you you don't remember the last time you thought of it. You wonder who bought it and if they appreciate it the way you would have. You wonder if it got washed every week and if i was kept dressed in new tires. But when the song ends, so does the thought. You roll down the window, turn up the radio, and speed off happily ever after in your jetta.