i traded in my mini cooper tonight. after seven years together, it was the hardest good-bye i've had in a very long time.
i cried all the way home, and i've cried several times since getting home. i even think tears were freezing on my cheeks while i tried to walk away some of the grief with scarlet on the leash. it was hardly just a car...
we made cross country trips together - three times, my mini and me. we campaigned for obama together all over the country. not just in indiana or south dakota, but in every state we drove through. windows painted until the middle of 2010 when i moved to DC, obama stickers adorning the bumper and the dash. she was the perfect campaign car, in obama blue with black racing stripes.
my brother and i laughed while replacing her toggle labels with silly stickers so that "unlock" would read "ejector seat" and "window" read "periscope". we made a dozen trips to vegas, crossed the golden gate bridge, ventured down eldorado's gravel roads, and parked a few blocks from the white house. we stopped to photograph bears in yellowstone park, checked out the back side of mt. rushmore, dodged hail and tornadoes in kansas, crammed five giggling grown-ups in for a trek to knotts scary farm, climbed california's highest hills in silver lake and echo park. we moved from the casas del sycamore to the ancelle, and bounced for three years down descanso to the music box steps. then on to DC we marched in step. and in missouri tonight we parted ways.
tis a very sad night for me. it feels like the last piece of the life i used to have is now parked on a lonely volkswagen parking lot. and here i sit wailing at my computer over my first great sacrifice as a mom. when my new car gets here on tuesday, i've no doubt i will be the coolest thing ever seen driving a station wagon, but until then i think i will revel in the glory days we shared, and mourn the loss of my favoritest car ever and the era i left behind tonight.
she will never be just a car...
~k
