Car vs Pet

So today I was driving our 1993 Honda Accord and I was reflecting on all the memories I've had with it.  I started to realize that the relationship between me and this car is a lot like peoples relationships with their pets.  Now anybody that knows me very well knows I'm not much a of a pet person.

I'll share with you the story of my car.  It was the first car I bought on my own.  I purchased it in the fall of 2000, in Moses Lake, Wa.  I don't remember how much the down payment was, but it wasn't much.  I got the Honda around $7,500.  Granted it had a lot of miles all ready on it 150,000.  But there was only one previous owner and they had taken really good care of it.  So my payments where only $150 each  month, it was the perfect car for me.  So I soon named it Brown Melon.  For the life of me I can't remember why I named it that.

This began our long relationship.  I mean this car has been in my life longer then Joel has, so there are some serious memories here.  I have taken some trips in this car, its driven to Utah and Idaho numerous times.  Weekend trips to Seattle a bazillion times.  There was no way we weren't going to move Brown Melon clear across the country with us.  So we loaded her up on the Semi and shipped her across the country when we moved out here to TN the end of summer 2009.  (She is a girl because when I bought her she had a bra.  It since has worn out and never been replaced, scandalous car I drive now, ha ha!) 

Some of the sad things that have happened to her.  The week after we where married I was driving home from work getting ready to turn onto my street.  Which was kind of a pain because it was turning across two lanes of oncoming traffic.  Depending on what time of the day it could be rather busy.  Well I was in the turning lane and there was a car facing me trying to turn across the 2 lanes of traffic into the grocery store parking lot.  So i was trying to see around that car to make sure no one was coming.  I thought I was clear and I had almost got all the way through before someone smashed into my passenger back side by the wheel.  It was a old truck with some weirdos in it.  We obviously stopped and got out and exchanged info but they didn't want to call the police so we didn't.  Off they went.  Anyway it was totally my fault.  We ended up spending almost all the money we had received as wedding gifts to get the car fixed.  That was a bummer.

The next thing happened in the first yr or so of our marriage.  I had gone to get into my car for work one morning when I realized the radio was gone.  Someone had broken into my car, luckily for us they didn't brake the window or anything.  Again I can't remember what else they stole but they got away with some stuff.  The sad part was we had an alarm on the car but it had stopped working not to long before this.  Poor Brown Melon.  It's not fun being broken into and stolen from.

Can't remember the year of this one for sure but I think it was around 2007-2008.  Joel had taken Brown Melon to work at the Hospital.  He worked night shift, so when he came out the next morning to get in to the car to come home, he couldn't find the car.  At first he thought he just didn't remember where he had parked Brown Melon.  But come to find out it wasn't just a laps in memory but that Brown Melon had been stolen.  This of course made us extremely furious as this was the 2nd car of ours to be stolen!  I know what are the chances right?  Well when you live in Yaki-Vegas and you have the 2 top rated cars to be stolen there is a great likely hood this will happen.  ha ha!  I can say that and laugh about it now but not so much then,  Anyway we figured there is no way we would be getting Brown Melon back.  What are the chances of getting our 2nd stolen car back like with the first.  Well 2 days later while we where at Church we got a call from the Police up in Ellensburg who had found our car in the Albertsons parking lot.  So Joel headed up there and picked up the car.  The police said the think they got scared off because they left bags of food in there from the drive thru and it was still fairly warm.  We were extremely excited to get the car back, but before Joel drove her home he had to rip the sun visors out because they had written in permanent marker some dirty foul things.  Which to this day makes me anger every time I go to use the visor and its not there it triggers memories of those idiots who stole our car.  We also had to get the ignition fixed after they broke it hot wiring it.  But it was worth it getting Brown Melon back.

So as you can see we really have been through a lot.  But not all of it has been bad.  She is a great car, I mean don't get me wrong she does have some other personality quirks.  Like her fan that squeals, her random squeal when you turn, or her speedometer that is off by like 12mph.  Or we can't forget the time the drivers door decided it didn't want to open for what ever reason.  I'm blaming it on the heat but who really knows what its issue was.  It was when my brother Randy was visiting and the whole time he was here it was giving me problems so we would have to clime over and get out through the passenger door.  Or there is when the seal broke in the back trunk and when it rained it would leak into the trunk and start to smell. The time I moved to Seattle to start my new job it was March and they where having a snow storm on the pass and I was so worried that I wasn't going to make it over the pass with all of these 4 wheel drive cars getting stuck.  But she just kept on going and passing all the idiot drivers and we made it there.  My knuckles where pretty white from holding on to the steering wheel with my death grip but she did awesome. 

Which brings us to the present time.  So Joel mainly drives her now to school which is lots of freeway miles.  She was in need of new tires badly so about two weeks ago we got 4 new tires.  As anybody knows those aren't the funnest thing spend money on but it becomes a necessity right.  Well on Monday Joel was going to be carpooling to school and driving but when he started his car for some reason the fan had stopped working and its been extremely hot here so his friend Dustin said he would drive, so they left the car in the parking lot where they meet at.  When they got back from school Dustin said to Joel did you have a flat tire?  Joel was like no I just got 4 new tires.  Then he started to look and realized someone had stolen one of our brand new tires and left us with their awful shredded tire, plus they took our nice lug nuts and left their old rusty ones.  Talk about making me mad.  I wanted to punch that person so bad.  It's hard not to be mad at people when they feel like they can do things like this and its okay.  As Joel looks at the positive and says well maybe they needed it more then we did and look at the bright side at least they didn't steal the car.  Which is so true.  But I still had harsh feelings towards the individual!  Joel did say that if he sees another honda with three old tires and one new one... he's taking his tire back and leaving the person with our spare.  It only seems fair. 

So you see my car is like my pet.  We have built a relationship with each other.  We love and respect each other.  We have had many of pep talks in that car.  I have deep feelings for her especially when other people mess around with her.  She is getting old with lots of miles almost at 260,000.  But I keep telling her she has to last us through school.  I hope she can make it.  But even if she doesn't it will be hard to let her go.  So to my loyal car as Buzz Light year says to Infinity and Beyond!

This picture below is exactly how I felt about the tire situation that happened this week. As Joel say's  she doesn't hold a grudge.  ha ha to funny!