The Gift

I had driven my beloved Prius for 13 years. She had 16 years on her, and over 200K miles. I figured with her hybrid battery replaced in 2017 she’d be good to go for another 100K miles or so…

My brother, Jeff, took a ride with me a month or two back and pointed out the roar of the engine - Prius’s aren’t known for their roar - and some vibrating, among other things.

That was all part of the charm, I explained.

Other people don’t find it as charming, I guess.

“When are you getting a new car?” is probably the question I get asked more than any other.

“This one is paid for,” I’d explain. I had other things to spend my money on. And, again, Toyota makes an amazingly durable product in their hybrid cars - I was in no hurry to upgrade. I loved that car, and we’d certainly been through a lot together.

Anyway, at some point between that ride and my birthday in March my brother decided it was time for a new car.

I’m told that he considered a new Prius, at first.

Instead, at some point, he decided to order a Tesla.

I wasn’t privy to the decision-making - I had no idea any of this was even going on, actually.

We’re not the kind of family that drives fancy, sporty little battery-powered cars.

In fact, we’re not the kind of family that gives big-ticket items like vehicles as birthday presents. I cringe when I see the Lexus commercials on television, and I don’t know anyone who’s ever actually received a brand new car wrapped up in a big red bow.

My brother has had a long history as a fighter against climate change, first as race director of some of the first ‘green’ multisport events in the US - the Musselman Triathlon, the Portland Triathlon, and the Seneca7 - and, later, as co-founder of the Council for Responsible Sport, an agency which worked to help other events adopt more environmentally-friendly policies.

(I, for my part, handled public relations and digital media for each of the events).

We all, as a family, followed my brother’s lead, adopting a more environmentally-conscious lifestyle: our homes are powered by solar power, we’ve all driven hybrid vehicles at some point, and we recycle like it’s going out of style.

But a Tesla?

That would have seemed excessive to me. My brother drives a 1970s-era camper van these days, and I was perfectly happy with my 2005 Prius.

A Tesla?

My brother braved COVID to take the train down to Brooklyn and pick up the car, much to the consternation of my mother, who has taken this virus very seriously. We had all received our first vaccination shot, and were on the cusp of receiving another and being fully vaccinated. He was risking it all by heading down to the early epicenter of Coronavirus. But head down he did, picking it up just days before my birthday.

I’m not sure where he hid it in the days between its delivery and my party, but when I pulled in to my parents’ driveway for a family birthday lunch it was apparently parked in the neighbor’s driveway; they, in on the plan, had obscured the new car with own vehicle.

At some point during the meal Jeff snuck my keys out of my jacket pocket, raced with my Prius up the street, and traded it for the Tesla, moving it into the space my car had been parked in.

Then, after replacing the keys in my jacket pocket, everyone waited.

At some point, under the guise of needing to retrieve items from the garage, he asked me if I would mind going outside to move my car to the other side of the driveway. I was a little surprised, and a bit annoyed - we hadn’t even had any birthday cake yet, and it was ‘back to work’ - but I agreed.

I didn’t even notice my father going out the front door to videotape it all, or think it strange that my mother sprang up to leash the puppy and take her outside at the same time.

I walked outside and spotted the new car in the driveway where mine had been. It took me a few seconds to realize that my own car had disappeared. I was irritated for a moment - who in the hell would steal a 2005 Toyota? - and then I spotted my dad rolling the camera and realized something was up.

We’re not the kind of family that gives each other cars as presents. I can’t stress that enough. Those are families on television commercials, and I always roll my eyes at how cringey they seem. So it took me a minute to realize what was happening. I was getting a car for my birthday?? It took me another minute to realize this thing was a Tesla. A new Tesla.

My parents and brother were beyond excited, but to me it didn’t seem real at first.

In summer 2020 I was diagnosed with Stage IV neuroendocrine cancer. My appointments for injections and scans are in various cities in the area, each about an hour away. Those appointments seem to be happening more and more lately - I had three the week of my birthday alone.

My parents, brother, and so many friends are more than willing to give me rides, and often do - but I enjoy driving, and I’m not a very good passenger, especially in heavy traffic, so being able to transport myself - that’s important.

I can understand why anyone thinking of me driving an hour each way in my 17 year-old Toyota would be nervous.

A new car, my brother felt, would help ease the anxiety of everyone.

Once everything is situated my brother figured I might want to embark on a ‘road trip’ of sorts. He loves to travel - he’s been to most of the continents - but my own travel has decreased over the years, in part because of the aging of my own car. Still, I have friends and family up and down the east coast that I’d love to see again after COVID. A road trip? Now that I have a dependable car, why not.

If I’m being honest, there’s no way I’d ever have trusted the Prius more than an hour or two from home - I babied that thing for the entire time I had it, but it had 200,000 miles. When I returned to New York from Florida in 2016 I knew that would be our last great road trip together. My last three trips out of state were on the train and in a rental car. When I was diagnosed with cancer I was sure my days of road tripping were finished. Now I have a brand new Tesla with miles in the triple digits - how can I not endeavor to take to a road one more time?

I get tired often, but I’m told that they make a mattress for this car that lets you sleep in the back.

And it has a glass roof, so you can literally sleep under the stars.

There’s even a simulated fireplace in the control center tablet on the dash!

And Netflix, and other streaming services, on the control panel on the dashboard.

Not sure how much EV-camping I’ll be doing, but I may be doing a spare bedroom tour of the eastern seaboard once boating season is over.

Me and the Elonmobile, coming soon to a city near you…

I have to thank my brother, Jeff, for this amazing and very generous gift - and my parents, Trojan the Puppy, and neighbors Mickey and Marsha for not spoiling the surprise.