Today I said goodbye
to an old friend. For the last
four and a half years she has been a very special part of my life, spending many
hours of every day together, being my companion as we navigated over many, many
kilometres.
Yes, it’s my car. Now I know that there are many of you
that think cars are just machines that do not have feelings and of course, I
know you’re right. But that special
place in my heart will argue with you.
She has been such a huge part of my family’s life, taking us to places
we have never been, keeping us safe on our travels and holding us tight,
allowing us to go about our daily life easily and comfortably, that she now
feels like one of the family. So many memories are contained inside her, the
laughter, the tears and the tantrums (mostly on my part, I will admit) but she
been there consistently, keeping us moving. Her boot has been filled with many of our possessions. When we moved house, she happily moved
all that she possibly could, her back seat crammed full of all that we held
dearest (the kids, the dogs and the TV). She has even been there for our family
holidays. In fact, without her, we
never would have even got there. She has been piled high with suitcases,
pillows and everything else a family needs to vacation. She has allowed us our weekend visits
to see family and she has been there for my husband when he needed her for
work, travelling the often rough roads of Queensland (Ok, the Bruce highway around Gladstone is probably the
roughest road she has ever seen, but I think that is one of the roughest road
in Queensland, don’t you?). She
even stayed strong when the kids learnt to drive in her, never once complaining
about her, sometimes, rough treatment.
Not all of her
adventures were good ones though. She’s
had some tough times. Like the
time that I reversed down our driveway and didn’t see the tree that was
approximately two metres in diameter and about fifty feet tall. She forgave me when I wiped off her
side mirror and scraped her front guard.
She did not hold any resentment what so ever. In fact, once she was all fixed and looking beautiful again,
she continued to do everything I asked of her without the slightest hiccup.
There was even the
awful night when I got that phone call all us parents dread. My son had had an accident in her. And it wasn’t a small one either. Yes it wasn’t his fault but the damage
that time almost ended her life.
But she did all I could ever ask her to do. On that stormy, wet night, she kept him safe. What more could I ask of her? Luckily, she happily lived to see another
day and more adventures.
But like all of us,
age has caught up with her and she can no longer consistently do the job that
we need her to do. So it is with
tears in my eyes and weight in my heart that I stand here on my driveway,
waving goodbye to my faithful friend, only happy in the knowledge that someone
new will love and cherish her as much as I have and that she will become that
special part of their family.
And tomorrow, I look
forward to meeting my new friend.
