This is my dear friend, my 2005 Hyundai Tucson. Yesterday she found a good new home for a decent price! Out of respect, I write this blog in memorium of our time together.
The summer after my freshman year at Juniata, I was realizing that rural Pennsylvania was not exactly the best place for a pedestrian. Though the campus itself was small, the big Sheetz and liquor stores were 2 miles away! That's not acceptable. Not to mention we were getting a big Walmart about 5 miles away.
My parents liked the idea of not having to drive me to and from school every few months. We figured if I got an SUV I could be responsible for transporting all my crap so my parents wouldn't have to endure another semester of lugging my CD colletion up long stairwells. Did I mention none of our dorms had elevators? Or air conditioning? Yeah. And move in day in August was usually hot as balls.
Amanda needed a car.
That summer, with the help of my grandma, I found my highway companion.
That car took me everywhere...
Back and forth from MoCo to Juniata
Friday trips to Altoona for Shabbat services with my second family
To "the spillway" several times during that one semester I played Rubgy
Exploring Pennsylvania outside of sleepy Huntingdon
To New York in 2006 where my life changed
Road trips, airports, homes of friends and family
First jobs
Last days
Drives to clear my head
Snow storms
Downpours
First days of spring with the windows down and Jimmy Eat World turned up
She never let me down.
My aunt, being a social worker and a veritable wellspring of emotion, asked me "how do you feel about selling the car? Does it make you sad?" Despite being pleased about the dollars in my pitiful bank account, I admit I was a little sentimental. Don't misunderstand, I'm not emotionally attached to any of my material things. But there were so many memories in that car. Images of friends laughing in the backseat, all my wordly college possessions blocking my rear view on the long drive home, digging her out of record snowfall, listening to Kieran snoring from the passenger's seat on long drives. It was just a car but it was also a major backdrop in the movie of my life. But I take comfort in knowing that although the car is gone, my memories will always stay with me.
I guess I'm also a little sad that soon this might be my fate as a European driver:
God help me.
Visa Update:Monday is 1 calendar month and 19 business days
Nothing yet.
The day I sold my jeep cherokee and watched it drive away was the day I truly knew I was moving overseas. That was eight years and two countries ago and I can still picture it like it was yesterday!
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with the visa :-)