Rearview Mirrors

I love odd trinkets. I was sitting in traffic the other day and started noticing the other cars. I’m not a huge car buff and never really admire cars. They all look generally look the same to me. You notice how cars have progressively gotten more and more round looking. There are barely any straight lines to them anymore.

Anyway, I wasn’t looking at the cars themselves, but at their rearview mirrors. Most of the drivers had something hanging on their rearview mirror. It got kinda interesting to see what people had hanging and how many times they would recur in other peoples cars.

Number one was necklaces or jewelry. I guess they’re pretty easy to hang . I’m guessing most of the time the charm on the necklace holds some significance to the driver. Maybe it’s religious or sentimental value. I guess it’s comforting for some people to know that St. Christopher is watching over them (he’s the Patron Saint of Motorists, yep it’s true). One good thing about putting up a necklace, it’s not as distracting as some other things people hang up.

Fuzzy dice has been a favorite for God knows how long. I think it gained popularity back in the 50’s. Teens driving their giant shiny cars needed a pair of fuzzy dice dangling up front. I don’t think they’re that popular nowadays or maybe I’ve just been looking in the wrong cars.

People love stuffed animals. They put them on the dashboard, in the back window and on the rearview mirror. There was one car that had a stuffed monkey hanging from it. Gotta have guts to put that up.

There were a handful of flags. Patriotic that’s nice. For awhile everyone had flags hanging on the outside of their cars. I guess now they graduated to be inside.

One car had what looked like wind chimes. I always thought the point of wind chimes was to hang out on your porch and when you heard them make the clinking noise you knew there was a breeze coming in. Not sure what good they are in a car. Maybe to make sure your air conditioner is working.

Scented pine trees have become a clichéd item. They’re really not very decorative and the main reason is for them to make your car smell all nice and….piney. I’m not sure who would hang up for any other reason than that. A lumberjack maybe?.

There seems to be a new trend of hanging cd’s on your rearview mirror. Have you seen this? I just don’t understand it. At first I thought it might be the drivers favorite cd and he had hanging there so he could get to it easily. But that didn’t make too much sense so I gave up trying to figure it out. It would seem to be annoying having a cd constantly bouncing around reflecting the sun into your face. But maybe that’s the point, make your car look like a disco.

A handful of drivers have nothing at all. I always interpret that as them being very straight-laced no nonsense drivers. “A car is supposed to be driven from Point A to Point B. No monkey business, either on the roads or the rearview mirror. They don’t get any enjoyment out of driving or maybe they are just not as flashy as others.

So if you have an unusual thingy hanging from your rearview mirror that I haven’t mentioned let me know. And if you know the reasons or rationale behind the cd thing clue me in!