Sunday, August 10, 2008
Happy Anniversary!
Tomorrow marks a significant milestone anniversary in my life. We've shared ten whole wonderful years together. Some of my most treasured memories are from the times we were together. True, we've had troubles along the way, heartache and frustration, but we've always been there for each other. For ten whole years.
I'm talking of course, about my car, Johann.
I'm talking of course, about my car, Johann.
Johann is a cobalt blue 1993 Geo Prizm. I bought him on August 11, 1998 from a used car dealer in Lindon, Utah. I had spent that summer reading Consumer Reports and test driving various cars. Before I even met Johann, I had decided that I wanted a 1993 or 1994 Prizm.
I have never regretted the decision. Over the years, he's been a fairly reliable companion. I haven't had to worry too much about him. Sure, there was the time when my BYU roommate cranked his window crank (no, he doesn't have power windows) a little too hard and broke the mechanism, causing the window to plummet into the door frame never to rise until my dad and I took it apart. There was the time the transmission blew out soon after I moved to Virignia in 2001. And there was the fiasco of his persistently broken/repeatedly breaking starter that caused many headaches when we moved back here in 2005. And right now, the back left door doesn't open from the outside. More comically, the spring on his gas cap is broken, making it necessary to use a plastic figurine of Sneezy Dwarf (from Snow White) that came out of a McDonald's Happy Meal to prop up the little "Open Gas Cap" handle while I pry open the cap with my fingers.
But Johann has been literally all across this great country of ours with me. He's been to San Diego, and he's been to New Hampshire. The only speeding ticket I've ever received in him (or any car) was in Nowheresville, Nebraska, right in the middle of the country. Johann has boasted four different license plates since I've owned him: Utah, Virginia, Massachusetts, and now Virginia again. The first thing I did when I finished my last BYU final in December 2000 was march straight to the bookstore to buy a "BYU Alumni" license plate holder for him. I've given up the black fuzzy dice he sported for the first several years (though I think they're still rolling around on the floor in the backseat somewhere). He's been buried almost to his roof by a couple of different Massachusetts blizzards. He took me to work in Provo to the job I used to pay him off completely before I graduated. He met nearly every girl I went on a date with from 1998 to 2003 (I won't say exactly what he saw within his doors), and now Shelly exerts as much dominion over him as I do. To his credit, Johann has taken a shining to Shelly and respects her as he does me. Best of all, Johann has fulfilled the only longevity goal I had for him when I bought him ten years ago: I wanted to keep him long enough that my children would ride in him. They have.
It's true that he's getting on in years. We need to get his emissions and safety inspections done this month, and then we'll find out really what kind of shape he's in. But he's probably not going to be around a whole lot longer. Not another ten years, that's for sure. When our third kid comes along someday, we'll probably be in the market for a bigger car, and given that Shelly's car, Tommie J, is slightly newer and bigger than Johann, that might be the time that Johann and I part ways somehow. But I'm not sure I can bear that. He's been a trusty companion for ten years, and today I pay tribute to my car.
Comments:
Oh my gosh, you still have that thing? I'm on my third car since then. My Camry got smashed (not my fault) and then a Nissan, now a Jeep. And eventually a minivan.
When I was reading your newsletter, I almost responded, "Get a blog!" But I see you have.
Ours is susieszoo.blogspot.com
Tchau!
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When I was reading your newsletter, I almost responded, "Get a blog!" But I see you have.
Ours is susieszoo.blogspot.com
Tchau!
