Eleven years ago I fell in love with a car. I’ll never forget that day. I had the first Honda CRV that came out and I brought it down for a service. It was the only SUV I ever had. I always drove Accords. I hated that “truck”, as I called it. That day, in the showroom, I saw the new 2002 Civic coupe. I just knew it was mine. I asked my sales guy (whom I’ve now dealt with for over 20 years) what kind of a deal I could get. After all was said and done, that silver Civic coupe could be mine for $103 a month. He asked if I wanted to test drive it. I drove it home to show my kids. He thought I got lost. On April 22, 2002 I bought that car and have loved it ever since.
But now it was eleven. It needed shocks, an air conditioning overhaul, and tires next fall. My husband was questioning its safety on my drives to and from NY. The time has come to let go of my precious car. That car was me. It looked like me, it behaved like me, and it just plain felt like an old well-worn pair of comfy jeans when I drove it.
I took excellent care of it and it took excellent care of me, but now we must part ways. I came to NY yesterday to buy a new Civic. Last night in the Mohawk Honda parking lot I found the new love of my car life, but then I turned and saw my old faithful friend just sitting there. This new car buying was going to be bitter-sweet. Today when I turned her in in favor of her new successor, I actually patted my old 2002 Civic goodbye. It hurt…..
…it hurt until my sales guy, Jim Lynch, drove my new girlfriend up to the door. He backed it into the customer pick-up area as I watched from a chair inside the showroom. Ahh…oh my…is that MY car? All thoughts of leaving my old silver girl in that parking lot disappeared. I discovered what people and yoga and meditative readings and bible study have been preaching to me for two years:
“Let go. It’s hard. It hurts. But…it’s necessary. You have to let go of the old to make room for the new. And guess what? The new will be way better than the old ever was.”
And so, as another day goes by, the new, sitting in my NY driveway, trumps the old hands down, and…I have written.
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