03/05/2002 Entry: "Goodbye, Cindy."

She's gone.

Frank, the tow truck driver, called me from San Anselmo. "Can you believe they put that on the address? Crazy. I'll be there in about 20 minutes." I'm certain only five minutes passed when he called to say he was out front to pick her up.

Paperwork in order for the donation to Habitat for Humanity, I drove her around to the back of the truck, where Frank wheeled her up onto the flatbed and started to secure everything there. I had joked about putting some of the used furniture and old computers that clutter up the house in the back when they took it, so I laughed a little when Frank asked. "Did you get everything out of it that you need?"

I learned to drive in that car. My mom pulled over on Highway 280 once and said, OK, you're going to drive on the freeway now. I got scared, and uttered something to the effect of, "I don't think I can handle this any more," which is not something you want to hear with a student driver behind the wheel.

The car made more trips from Santa Barbara to San Francisco than I care to remember. It was stolen once, for a month; I walked around the block three times looking for it that morning, before I went back to our friend's house, called the police and turned into a piece of furniture. It's been broken into countless times.

I had sex in that car with a big bear of a guy on Sanchez Street, parked on a steep hill in a quiet residential neighborhood. As he leaned way over to kiss me (and other things that involved leaning) I panicked that (irrationally) the car was going to tip over and roll down the hill.

I put huge dents in the front fenders from two separate incidents with huge poles in parking garages. I swear that every Camaro out there has matching dents in the very nose of the car. But it took me to work from the apartment in the Sunset where I felt so sequestered to the opposite side of the city. I'd eventually drop the Roommate off at his job too.

I dropped off The Boyfriend in that car on our first date. I don't know if my car scared him like his choice in restaurants scared me, but if it did he didn't let on. Of course, I don't think we went on another date in it afterwards, so maybe that's my answer. We didn't kiss goodnight there, but there was a lingering moment when we sort of looked at each other and considered it.

Yeah, I definitely got everything out of it that I needed.

I didn't actually cry, like I threatened to, but my eyes do get a little misty still remembering everything. I feel a little silly getting emotional over it; it was just a car. But it's time to move on. Now I have to go vote at our local precinct before work.

Can anyone give me lift?

Replies: One Comment

it's never easy to say goodbye.

Posted by aaron @ 03/06/2002 11:42 AM PST