Monday, March 20, 2006

Adieu to Squeaky…

After 14 years of loyal service our 1992 Dodge Shadow (a.k.a. Squeaky) drove her last trip. With a loud pop and a shimmy…she was done. She was a good car. A workhorse. We put that poor car through more than it was ever meant to do and she did it with style and without fuss. We never had much go wrong with her and all we ever needed to do with her was the basic maintenance of a vehicle. You might think I’m insane talking like she was a living being but that old girl was a part of the family.

Dave bought her the year after we met so he would have a reliable car when he started dating me. I was about an hour drive from him and he wanted to have a vehicle that could make the drive back and forth a lot and his current vehicle at the time would never have made the trip. Wow…if that isn’t courtship I don’t know what is. Anyways…over the years of our courtship and marriage she has been there…the many steamy nights and the fun road trips around the country. She went to Arizona, Maryland and many other places in-between.

Over the years she developed quite a distinctive little squeak that you could hear coming from 3 blocks away. Yes, we were one of “those” cars at the stoplight. The ones that when it pulled up you would look around at your vehicle to make sure that obnoxious noise wasn’t you. We tried without vain to get it repaired but to no avail. But despite that squeak…she was a trooper. We put a trailer hitch on her and she pulled a modest trailer to art shows, she carried friends, family, art supplies and lastly our little Alec. We knew she was going but we tried to forestall the inevitable. Non-withstanding that 2 car payments isn’t an ideal situation for us, we also had a lot of memories in that car and it was hard to let go. We’ve had her for 14 years…that’s the length of our entire courtship and the last 10 years of our marriage. Good times and Great memories. Yes, I know we are beyond nostalgic but that is just who both Dave and I are. So today we bid Adieu to squeaky…she was a good car and although she was just a car…she was a part of our little family and we will miss that little green machine!