BEST $80 EVER FOUND

On a road trip with my daughter, I realize one huge similarity and one huge difference between the two of us.

The similarity between us is that we both drive the same way.  This should instill absolute terror into the hearts and minds of all other drivers on the road.  We are the epitome of The Massachusetts Driver: aggressive, adept, lead-footed, and ruthless in traffic.  I'm not going to lie.  I gripped the arm rests and slammed against the suddenly taut seat belt more than once (or twice or a dozen times).  To these antics, my daughter simply replied with the truth: "YOU taught me to drive, Mom." 

Yes; yes, I did. 

The huge difference between us, though, is that I keep my car relatively junk-free, and my daughter's car resembles an episode of "Hoarders."  I'm not a neat-freak by any means.  I haven't washed my car since the winter (hey, it rains, right?), and I haven't vacuumed it since the previous presidential administration.  But, I cannot tolerate clutter under my feet when I'm driving.  Since I may be driving home, or, at the very least, taking a turn driving home, I decide to spend some time clearing clutter out of her car.

There is something, I'm not sure what, dried and crusted and stinking up the center console cup holder.  I'm afraid to even wager a guess what it might be, but I clean it up anyway.  Underneath the mystery powdery stinky stuff, there is money.  I peel the one dollar bill up, and it breaks in half.  I suppose the government will forgive me for throwing out money, or perhaps I could send it to the government and let their technicians deal with it. 

That's the worst of the unexpected surprises, though.  In a little over an hour, I manage to put some change into the console, hide loose tampons in the glove box rather than out in the open on the dashboard, fold the bra and put it back with the laundry bag where it belongs, clear out a dozen plastic bottles and almost as many empty and semi-empty coffee cups, and relocate things to make sense (medicine together, lone earrings in a pile to hopefully be reunited with their mates, and gather all the unopened mail in a bag).

Please don't get the wrong idea about my daughter.  She is very busy.  She's a nurse and often works double shifts.  She also goes in during storms when others cannot make it to the hospital.  She has a busy social life and is on the go every single waking moment.  Still, though, driving in her car is a little like squishing into a Smart Car because the rest of the space has been swallowed into the Black Hole of Useless Paraphernalia.  And, to be frank, she is teeny bit of a slob (as am I).

It's not all bad news.  In addition to finding errant earrings, I also find cash hidden.  Like me, my daughter likes to stash money places in case she needs it, and, like me, she often forgets where those "safe spaces" are.  Unlike the dried up, crusty dollar that found its way to a trash can, I find four neatly folded twenty dollar bills tucked alongside an emergency CPR mask. 

I am thrilled to report that my daughter and I are also similar in our joy over finding a stash of cash.  I'm not so sure she is thrilled with my cleaning and invasion of her vehicular privacy, but what's done is done.  The best part is that I don't even drive on the way home, so I didn't really need to clean the car, after all.  But, it's the best $80 we ever found, and that is totally worth an hour of my time.