Brown Cars Everywhere: What an Awakening Looks Like

The simple act of seeing something new can change your life.

How now brown car. My sister-in-law’s righteous new golden brown truck.

Before this June, I didn’t know that cars came in brown.

I have no recollection of ever seeing a brown car. The phrase “brown car” strikes no chord of familiarity. There has been no: “Look for the brown car” or “She has a brown car” or “I’m looking at a new hatchback — what do you think of brown?” No “Your car is such a nice shade of brown.” Of all the colors and metallic tones that are applied to the vehicular family, I have never, ever considered the existence of brown.

And then Steve and I flew to Aspen. This is the airport from which we travel down-valley through the red-earth sage mountains to Carbondale to visit my brother and his family. This was the trip we took to watch my niece, Taya graduate from high school. This was the trip where our plane was so early, my sister-in-law Tracey wasn’t there yet to pick us up, so when we called her she told us to go stand at the arrival curb and look for her new car — a “brown truck.”

What?

“Tracey has a new truck,” I said to Steve who was already looking down the street for her arrival.

“It’s . . . brown,” I said. “Brown? Have you ever seen a brown car?”