saying goodbye

this past weekend i said goodbye to a friend. a friend who has accompanied me through life for the past 7 years. a friend who came into my life at a very crucial point and stuck right with me through more crucial times. this friend has been with me through it all. she's listened to me complain, whine, worry, dream, laugh, cry my eyes out, and sing at the top of my lungs (often off key).

she's a great listener. she never judges, though often she's had excuse to. she welcomed many different people into her life. she was always kind. even when i would pack her to the brim. sure, she hasn't been perfect. there was definitely more than once where she let me down and frustrated me to the point where i would do anything to get out of our friendship and say good riddance.

nonetheless, she deserves some credit and a proper goodbye...............

here we are...me and my friend, the alero. (compliments of my mother who insisted my grimy, unshowered, still in pajamas self, get in the photo.)

i do think it's pretty amazing that the car i got for my 16th birthday was still with me seeing as it wasn't new when we got it. dad always said "well, try to make the alero last through college". and it did.

sometimes i can tend to be a bit sentimental. and i have to admit, when i watched the alero drive away on saturday, it was kind of sad. i've been wanting a new car for a couple years now, because she was definitely showing her age, had been wrecked, backed into, had chronic low tire pressure despite getting new tires way too often, battery connection issues, etc. and as much as i'm quite happy to move on...i will always have fond memories of the alero. (probably because i never had to pay to get it fixed).

the thing is though...when you have a car for that long. especially that sees you through high school, and 2 different college experiences. it really does become a huge part of you. i couldn't even begin to name off the different and very random people that have been in my car. i have to admit, i'm definitely glad that cars can't talk because the alero has really seen/heard it all from long, intense conversations in parking lots to christen and i dancing wildly while speeding down the interstate.

taye was kind enough to help grandpa take off my license plate.

and now onto the next phase of life...here i am with my new friend, (no...not that little tikes car) "the honda" as has been dubbed by my family for the past few years. creative, i know. as you can see...it's a bit of an upgrade (thankfully i upgraded my look as well.) so my mom now has "the highlander", so i get the honda. (no, not for free, i'm not that spoiled).

unfortunately for the honda, i don't think she'll experience quite the thrills that the alero did. she's coming in on a more boring stage of life. but i'm sure we have many adventures ahead that i'm thankful not to know about.