The car was purchased in December of 1998. She’d looked at dozens of cars. This was her way, to research every possible option and then narrow down and make a selection. She hated buying cars. Loathed it. So while she started her search with a Ford Mustang in mind she ultimately ended with a dark green Honda Accord EX.
She remembers driving off the lot, with something like 20 miles on the odometer, relishing the absence of shifting, of the new automatic transmission. The car was nothing exciting, but she felt certain she’d be able to avoid the car buying process again for years with this reliable steed.
She had many adventures in the car. Her high school reunion, first dates, a move from her parents house to her first post college apartment. The years of driving back and forth in Southern California to work. Perhaps most important the trek to San Francisco on January 1, 2000 where she would start her new life. The life she’d dreamed about for over 20 years.
San Francisco was an adjustment from master planned suburbia. The car and she made it together. With all of her driving in Southern California she had never logged as much time as she did in the first year in San Francisco, searching for a parking space in the Mission. The car became more than just a mode of transportation during that time. It became a comfort, a reminder of the easy days when she’d drive somewhere and park, without even thinking about it. It became a reliable battering ram, for those spaces that she found after 30 minutes of searching that were just a little too small and required a little finessing to fit. The car became a friend, when she’d feel overwhelmed after long days of travel and high-strung new bosses, she’d cry out loud in the car. Sometimes shouting. And the car would continue on.
After 14 years the car was a part of her. She’d journeyed far and wide over emotional and physical terrain with the trusty Honda never showing a moment of strain. She grew up in that car. She new every inch of it and how it worked. Could park it with her eyes closed. It was a key player in the most stimulating and important decade of her life to date.