Man shares emotional story about the contents of his family car glovebox

A man made a surprising discovery in his glovebox when he was cleaning it out after a small crash, and it left him feeling ponderous and wistful.

In the end, the man – US-based writer Jordan M. Poss – wrote an intricate love letter to his car, detailing the ways in which – though we might not realize it – they are vital cogs in the machinery of our lives.

It’s a genuinely affecting read, and will no doubt strike a chord with anyone who loves cars and sees them as a part of the family.

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It all started after Poss was involved in a ‘fender bender’ in his 2011 Ford Fiesta.

Thankfully the crash was nothing serious, but he did receive the news that the car was to be written off.

So, despite not being ever being sentimental about his cars, he even nicknamed an old 1985 Camry he drove the ‘Punishment Hut’ – more on that later – he set about emptying the car for the final time.

Cleaning out the car can be a sentimental task

However, as he came to set about the task, he admits: “The pang I felt surprised me.”

After all, he’d driven his wife on their honeymoon in this car, brought two children home from the hospital in it, and it had become a vital part of the fabric of their everyday life.

Whilst some cars get abandoned and forgotten about, this one had seen everything.

Poss wrote: “When I went to clean it out I felt, for the first time, that I was losing a little something in losing this hunk of steel.

“As I dug through the glovebox and trunk and the cupholders I realized that if time is a river, this car was a whirling eddy where flotsam gathered and, saturated, sank, gathering in sediment at the bottom.

“Now, having dug the sediment out, I’ve left that eddy behind, never to go back.”

It’s sad, right?

Even though it’s an inanimate object, the memories are real.

If you need further proof of that, check out this man and his dad’s story.

The contents of the glovebox

As well as memories, there were physical objects there too, as he detailed.

In that glovebox, he discovered hundreds of napkins and plastic cutlery, old CDs long forgotten, a wedding magazine featuring his own wedding, items from his wife’s job, a relic from a holiday to Texas after their marriage, a hair bow belonging to their daughter, an envelope bearing his late grandfather’s handwriting, given to him days before his death containing Christmas money.

It’s enough to bring a tear to your eye.

As well as sun shades, CDs of songs for kids, and straws from ‘probably a half-dozen different Chick-fil-As’ he also found one more artefact.

The keys to that 1985 Camry, the aforementioned Punishment Hut. 

The sadness of losing a family member

All in all, Jordan’s deeply personal essay – which you can and should read here – speaks to the importance of the vehicles we use every day.

They are exactly that – they carry us around, they are ever present, and whilst they aren’t physically alive – though some manufacturers have tried–  they are a massive part of our human experience, and we imbue them with our personality.

Jordan explained: “What struck me is that none of these objects, in an of themselves, have value or really matter. Certainly not to anyone else.

“But taken together, as bits and pieces of life built up like silt that machine, which I so often took for granted, they mean so much more than whatever matter they are made of.

“They are pointers, not just showing the way but bringing us into the presence of immaterial things—memories, times and places and people.

“Everything I noted above came back as I fished these odds and ends out of the car, and when I was finished I found I had a hard time closing the doors and leaving the Fiesta behind for the last time.”

In the end, he described the contents of that glovebox as ‘little reminders of eternity’ and concluded: “I have never driven a mere machine.”