Why you should put bumper stickers on your car
or how my car embarrassed me and created a social club
I used to have a Volkswagen bug.
I loved that car! It was ‘bottle green’ with leather and white interior seats. I could fit it in any spot in the city (where I worked at the time). I could even fit two rather large dogs in the backseat. I could not quite comfortably fit four friends and a cooler.
This car was just plain fun.
It was the sort of car that had personality. It made me feel like I had a big personality too. And it just invited self expression. So… The bumper stickers started.
It was innocent enough — one of my favorite podcasts would send out a bumper sticker to Patreon members, the United States Eventing Association sent a sticker with my membership renewal, a restaurant in town handed out a free magnet when you ordered a second drink.
But then the car was looking out of sorts with just ‘a couple’ bumper stickers. And suddenly stickers started showing up everywhere - in the mail, ordered from Etsy shops, sought out in local coffee shops. And when I ran a half marathon (never again) you bet I was going to put that 13.1 sticker on there!
It was out of control and I loved it. The car got second looks. I loved driving that car and I loved my strange confluence of stickers that somehow felt so very me - Catholic and horse-obsessed and loving my city and my schools and coffee and Poe.
So one day when I got a Facebook notification I looked twice. Yes that was a picture of my car, taken through a rainy windshield at a stoplight. The caption read, “Okay who is this person! I have to be their friend!” And the notification was from an actual friend of mine in the comments, “@Katie Marquette, isn’t this your car!?”
The post had been liked hundreds of times and been shared in a local community group. There was all kinds of speculation in the comments. Did this person also like beaches and travel? Did she love rescue dogs and bookshops? She must love margaritas, someone wrote, she just seems fun. (maybe they thought the Catholic bumper sticker was ironic)
In any case, I felt a combination of mortified and thrilled. I knew that car would get attention. I knew those bumper stickers were cool! So I sheepishly admitted it was in fact me they were all talking about, a rather normal person and probably not half as interesting as they hoped.
I was doubly mortified when the poster of the original picture sent me a direct message. She wanted to meet. Not only that, she had a lot of other people who wanted to meet me! I was like some fake celebrity thanks to this car! The bumper stickers had backfired! But what was I to do? This was a community group. Some of these people I knew by name if not by face. They were neighbors, friends of friends. I had to go.
So I changed my outfit about five times and tried to look the part of very cool VW bug girl when I arrived at a restaurant in our local shopping center. Much to my horror, there sat a table of about twenty people, horse balloons tied to chairs, and they applauded when I arrived! Was I supposed to make a speech?
Luckily the organizer, Jenna, was remarkably upbeat and friendly. She started introducing me to people (some she had only just met herself) and although I think many of them quickly realized I couldn’t possibly be as cool as the imagined person they had created in the comments section, they all seemed to think I was nice enough and the conversation flowed easily.
After drinks, we all went outside. They all waited as I pulled the car out in front of the restaurant. They all really wanted to see it. They wanted to look at the bumper stickers up close. They touched the trunk like a holy object.
I wish I could tell you I met my best friend in that group, but that didn’t happen. I do see a few of these women occasionally. We tend to run in similar horsey circles in the area. Now we can nod and wave and ask about the kids. And I did end up getting two barn cats from Jenna - two adorable, tumbling kittens that I surprised my husband with on Easter weekend five years ago. Sometimes when I see them lounging in the barn I think, you’re here because of my weird bumper stickers, and life seems delightfully strange.
But more to the point — the get together wasn’t really about meeting me, it was about people meeting each other.
And yes, there is an ongoing get-together group called “Saddles and Socials” that meets semi-regularly for drinks and conversation. It was started immediately after our get-together that night.
The cover photo for the Facebook group was, last I saw, a picture of my car.
So the moral of this story is to ignore that annoying PSA meme about how people will stalk you and your children based on the bumper stickers on your car.1
And more importantly, feel free to say who you are. I know bumper stickers aren’t all of you who you are, not in the least. But they can say something about you - about your humor, your interests, your past, your present.
And it’s good and important for the world to know you. People are dying to meet you. They’re dying to meet each other. They want to drink coffee and talk about Edgar Allan Poe and ride horses together2, just like you do!
Three cheers for the VW bug, which I miss dearly.
But it isn’t a season for Beetles, but for used minivans, and you can bet that van is going to have a personality.
It’s not quite up to Bug coolness yet, but we’ll get there.
Hi, I’m Katie, a writer and podcaster and I believe that literature, art, beauty, theology, and wonder are worth our time and attention. This essay was free for you to read, but took time and research to write - consider upgrading to a paid subscription to support the work I do.
Listen to Born of Wonder the podcast
Email me anytime: marquettekatie@gmail.com
(I mean, up to a point, do what makes you feel safe).
sub in your own odd confluence of interests here.
This is quite a story, Katie! 😆 Loved reading it.
I do the same thing with my waterbottle! Not the grandiose effect of a car, but it does feel just as special. Btw you are really cool Katie, embrace it🤪