School, Cars and Goodbyes

It’s hard to believe that spring break is only a few weeks away.  I cannot even begin to think about spring break until midterms are over.  Tomorrow I have my first quiz of the semester and I am crazy nervous about it.  For some reason I have 50 pages of notes to study for a 20 point quiz and though much of it is review, I am overwhelmed with information.  At some point our brains must hit maximum capacity, right? What happens when my brain is overloaded with information? Does my head implode? I spoke with my sister today and we agreed that we both have inherited some kind of neurotic gene that makes us worry incessantly.  Even when something good happens, we will think of the worst-case scenario.  I need to stop living my life waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Though I wouldn’t mind if a pair of shoes dropped as long as they designer Manolo Blahnik disco shoes, worthy of a night at Studio 54. 

Amidst all of the chaos that is every day life, our family had to say goodbye to and oldie but goodie last Friday.  Our precious 2000 Oldsmobile Alero had to be towed away to auto salvage graveyard, where old cars go to die.  Being the emotional nightmare that I am, after being handed a generous check from the salvage yard I turned around and took one last look and shed a few tears.  The Alero is by no means a luxury car.  In fact I believe somewhere back in 2002 or 2003 they stopped production on Oldsmobiles all together. Yet this was the first car my husband and I purchased together as a married couple, with both of our names on the title.  This car has been with us through trips to the country, trips to the city, camping trips, also driving through snowstorms and torrential rain.  This car has seen its share of sand from the beach, fast food wrappers from the kids, and even a little snot from our daughter when she was little.  It has been filled with car seats, dog and dog hair, luggage, winter hats found shoved under the seat in summer, schoolbooks and backpacks. It also has been the courier of some of the most precious cargo I could think of.  My husband, my friends, my pets, my mother, my sister, my children, my children’s friends.  And in the past year it has been the primary vehicle for my teenage twin boys.  The Alero has made late night Taco Bell runs and countless trips to the gas station because mom just needs a Coke.  It has sat parked outside of Franklin Middle School as one of the boys waited to pick their sister up.  It has sat in the parking lot of West High School, or on the street outside of the school.  It has been parked in friend’s driveways, family’s driveways; it had an argument with a fire hydrant …. And it lost.  It has spent hours in the parking lot of PDQ Car Wash or McDonalds, while one or the other of our teenage sons was working. So I want to take a moment on my blog to honor the Alero…. You weren’t just a car Oldsmobile Alero, you were my friend.