As it turns out, I can't actually fit in a Porsche Boxster as well as I'd thought. I'm not sure what was different between the '05 and '97 models I sat in at the Fred Baker Porsche-Audi and the '99 (with 27,000 miles) I found at Legendary Motorcars that I was hoping to buy. Perhaps I didn't put my feet on the pedals to simulate actual driving. Maybe the seats were different; they felt different to my memory, but I tried an '01 they had as well and it wasn't any better. It'd be impossible for me to drive this car for any length of time. I took it out for a test drive anyway, of course, but during the course of it, I realized that it simply wasn't to be.

It's unfortunate, too. It was a blast to drive. I'd done a lot of research, arranged financing, etc. I was ready to buy this car if it was in good shape and we could agree on a reasonable price.

Actually, it's probably better this way. I shouldn't be spending upwards of $25,000 on a used car, particularly one that's six years old, even if it is low mileage. And there were some mechanical quirks on the '99 that gave me pause. And maintaining a Porsche isn't cheap. Isn't justification wonderful?

Thus we're back to a car that I'll be settling for, rather than one that I want. There's nothing really wrong with the Scion tC. I was very impressed by it, actually, but I really, really miss my convertible. There's just something about driving with the top down that really lights up my spirit.

A lot of things have changed since those days, of course: New jobs, new responsibilities, wars and terrorism, financial recession, church and state merging, so on and so on. But it's a curious coincidence that I haven't really been as happy as when I could drop the top and go for a ride in the sunshine.