Your first car is ugly, loud and absolutely priceless. Freedom rarely comes with good paint.

What a first car buys you has nothing to do with the car. Dents, noise and a tape deck, and also the ability to leave the house, pick up a friend, get to a job, none of which you had the week before. Freedom arrives in whatever shape is available at the price.

Notice what the car lets you do that you could not do last year, and spend some of it this week on something worth remembering. Learn to check its oil and its tires, because the freedom lasts as long as it runs. And do not apologize for it when somebody else gets in.