farewell, chloe

we said goodbye to a member of our family last month.  actually, she was a member of our family before we were even a family, or before chris and i were even a couple.  her name was chloe and she was the first car i'd ever owned.  (i think back when i was 21, it was cute to give names to cars.  i have since ceased this practice.)

chloe was my college graduation present, and i remember picking her up at a dealership outside of D.C. where i moved to start teaching at an alexandria middle school.  it turned out that i was the salesman's first sale ever, and when he surprised me by taking a picture (with a polaroid camera -- this happened in such ancient history that digital cameras weren't yet mainstream) i think he was doing it as much for me as he was for himself.

even more impressive than my scrunched socks and high-waisted shorts is the fact that i actually located this photo among the thousands of pictures i have from the 1990s.  apparently i used to actually print out pictures and put them into albums

chloe has certainly led an active life.  less than a year after i got her, she was stolen and raced around in a high-speed chase in old town alexandria before the joy ride came to a sudden halt when the driver crashed into a police cruiser.  an interesting tidbit: the thief was a fourteen-year old student at my middle school, who happened to find my keys in the stairwell and decided to grab a few buddies and take her out for a spin.  i had unknowingly dropped my keys while lugging up a few boxes of manipulatives and didn't realize i had lost them until that afternoon, when i prepared to leave.  i caught a ride home with a coworker and had chris drive me back that evening with my spare set.  i'll never forget arriving to a completely empty parking lot ... and asking him to circle around one more time to see if the car might magically appear.  it was all a bit surreal.

poor chloe.  i've often wondered what happened to that kid who stole her.  i'm still awaiting the restitution that was promised me ...

after two months of almost-total reconstruction (why the insurance company did not calculate it as a total loss, i will never understand) and 15+ years of driving around DC, raleigh, asheville, and raleigh again, the 145,000 miles began to catch up with her.  she'd shudder when we braked on hills; in the summer, whenever we turned, cold liquid would seep out near our feet.  this fall, we knew it was time to say goodbye and actually donated her to a local charity, who seemed incredibly grateful to inherit our family member.

chris is thrilled to finally have a new car that doesn't have a tri delta alumnae sticker on the back left window (and probably even more thrilled to have dry feet when the air conditioning is on.)  the kids are excited to ride in the back seat any time they're given the opportunity.  and i'm enjoying the stick shift -- it reminds me of the car i drove in college, when i was younger and carefree and without booster seats and goldfish crumbs all over the floorboard. i calculated that if this replacement car lasts as long as chloe did, we could very well be driving it when we drop off the kids at college.  (shoot -- in 15 years, we could be driving it to liam's college graduation.)

so here's to a fresh odometer and a new set of wheels.  here's to another 145,000 miles and the adventures they'll entail.  and here's to chloe, beginning a new life wherever she may be.