Jeep Life

The legendary Jeep: rugged, enduring, and made for adventure.

The air conditioner went out in my Acadia … during a 100-degree heat wave. It was yet another repair in only five short years that needed to be made to my beloved car. We could have fixed it, along with the other problems the mechanic found while under the hood. But we were tired of throwing money into my 150,000-mile vehicle. We decided that before pouring more money into another repair (that might or might not get us farther down the road), we would go car shopping.

My husband suggested we look at a Jeep. Our son had one before and it proved worthy of sustaining more miles and more abuse than my now-injured Acadia. So we rolled down the windows, let the smoldering air pour in, and shopped.

It was barely a week later that my decision was made.

Visions of the top down, wind blowing in my hair, and sunshine warming my skin enticed me. The Jeep Wrangler is no sissy and the new models have additional luxuries (including a working air conditioner!), making it a compatible family car that’s still tough enough for beach sand and mountain mud if adventure takes us off road.

I was hooked!

I traded in my Acadia—and acquired a tribe.

I’d barely had my Jeep a week when I realized I had been inducted into a new group with the purchase of my Wrangler. I rounded a sharp curve on my way home one afternoon and saw two Jeeps in the opposite lane driving towards me. Each driver lifted two fingers at me. I started noticing that other Jeep drivers were doing this special wave or some form of it, too.

Pinterest even has pins of this wave. And get this: there are shirts and stickers too.

Now I am constantly on the lookout for members of my new tribe. I have paired my wave with the phrase “Jeep Life” (only when the kids are in the car, because it irritates them). But I enjoy this new connection—this ready-made acceptance into a distinct group.

Jeep Life says, “You are part of my culture; you belong in my group; you are welcome here.”

It’s a basic, fundamental need to “belong”—a connection we all search for on varied levels throughout our lives. We long to hear or at least feel others express, “I get you,” “You are not in this alone,” “I feel the same way as you.”

I wasn’t searching for this connection when I purchased my Jeep, but I am proud to now belong to this distinct group.

What unique communities are you a part of?