Heathers and the Cars They Drive....

Well, as promised, I should officially put down in words how "Heather" and her associated entourage came to be. It actually started, well before my time, with my friends, but it evolved into something else over time.

As legend has it, Julian (may he rest in peace... or enjoy all his time with his girlfriend since we obviously are a horrible and distracting influence on him), was driving with Phil down 2nd St in Seattle, when he looks over and notices a gal in the car next to them. He thinks he knows this girl, so he rolls down his window and yells out "Hey Heather!" Well the gal turns around and it is NOT Julian's friend Heather, but shares alot of common characteristics, a blond, 20 something female, and for the sake of the story, let's just say she drives a Jetta (more on that later). What makes this stick out in my friends mind is the complete confusion on this pseudo-Heather's face. She really wants to be Heather, but knows she isn't. This gives Julian an idea to repeat this to innocent, unsuspecting women on street corners or in cars stopped at lights. Any place that there is a small window of time to interact, and then be gone in a flash. I was there one night when he did this, and it never failed. All the ladies thought, for just the briefest of moments that their names were Heather and they would wave back instantly, but then get very very confused. Yeah, it was immature, but it's what guys do in their early to mid-twenties. Still brings a grin to my face. So that's how Heather started.

Soon, Heather started to become a term for a certain girl. They seem to thrive in Seattle, and more specifically on Queen Anne Hill. As I mentioned before they usually are blond, fairly petite, early professional, early-to-mid 20s, almost exclusively drive Volkswagen Jettas (or Honda Civics if they are younger). Soon we noticed that "Heather" always had a certain kind of guy around her. It never seemed to be someone they were really googly-eyed in love with. These guys seemed very utilitarian. Hence, Peter (and my addition of the last name, O'Tool) was born. He drives typically Ford vehicles (Explorers and Mustangs with white racing stripes). Peter is a tool... something to keep the guys from making moves on "Heather" when she's out on the town. Soon after, we'd be sitting down somewhere with a pitcher of our region's finest brew, and finding out how the people around us where connected to the mythical "heather". Good, fun, people watching / creative writing exercise.

So next time your out and about with friends, look around you and you too might see Heather driving her Jetta with Peter in the passenger seat. Just don't forget to say hi!