“The Scary Car”

We drove my Mazda to the cemetery on Saturday.  What a sad day.  It’s hard to believe what that car has been through and what it has represented in my life.  How sad to morn a car but it was a car with so many good memories and now it will be crushed into a $1000 car pancake on Thursday. Oh if it could just pass one more smog.

Memories 246,000 miles:

It was my first car really.  I had fun buying it with Mom.  I remember I  had to have a sun roof, power windows, fold down back seat,  stick, CD player and by all means it couldn’t be red.  But alas, my Mom wanted me in a mid-size for safety so some things got compromised.   It was everything except it did end up being red and a little larger than I’d have liked at the time.  We had fun shopping for it and I got see my Mom at her best haggling for a great deal.  Lifes learning leassons over buying a car I will carry with me always.

I got it my Junior year of College and had fun parking on the steep slops of Queen Anne Hill in Seattle.  Aside from the few love taps/scratches to my fellow parallel parkers, I got quit good at parallel parking on steep hills.

My first real rode trip was in that car.  I left on an early summer day with the music blaring and the windows down.  To California! To see my sweetie at his Dad’s land.  I never had so much fun driving a car.  I don’t think I’ve ever taken a car ride that long, by myself since and it will be a cherished memory.  The sky was the limits and I had my whole life ahead of me.  I remember feeling so free!

We pulled it across country behind a U haul.  Winters in Jersey.  Remembering the thunk , thunk of the chains in the snow only to realize when we stopped the chains had been whipping the outside wheel well.  Bumps and chips here and there and it was staring to look it’s age.  Then a rear ender hit and all was going to be again.  Macco fixed the body + a new paint job to boot, all covered by insurance and it was looking as good as new!

Back to the West coast 3yrs later and this time she had to drive it.  She pulled the sail boat and all Stephen’s medical books in the back seat.  She did pretty well till both her back wheels shredded and the struts gave out under the weight of it all an.  Ah the story I could place here being stranded in the Middle of Utah with a crazy tow truck driver.  But alas, this post is already too long.

She brought both our children home from the hospital and after Lucca’s birth she rolled over to 200,000 miles.  In her later days she was resolved to being the commuter car for Stephen and we had a Love /Hate relationship with her.   Her paint job was gone and she looked terrible. She was being held together by a good Mechanic practicing palliative care on a car.  She was very loud and she will be forever be known for my daughter’s nick name for her:  “The Scary Car”.