Death of a Car

This is my last post about the car and then I will get back into hey check this video out.

So last Wednesday when I went down to Jeremy's place of employment where my car was being kept, I had a chance to sit in it one last time. I started to eat lunch in it, but then the adjuster guy showed up to look at it. It was a bittersweet moment though when I left the car for good. I have memories. It was the first car I ever had. I remember my dad and I going car shopping finally because I was finally in a position to purchase a car. I didn't want to just get any car - I wanted either a Honda Accord or a Toyota Corolla. I remember going to Visalia and looking at a Toyota Corolla with my dad (I probably should have gone with that - they payments were cheaper). We ended up going to Bakersfield to Bill Wright Toyota where I first test drove the blue 2000 Toyota Corolla that I was going to name Cora - then they showed me what the payments would be. That is when I said I will take the white one that is 12,788 (it had a used sticker on it). I immediately knew her name would be Tori Corolla (she did not look like a Cora). I remember there being something wrong with a headlight that we got fixed. Tori had been a used car from the dealership - they would let people rent it so she had 32,000 miles on it. Not bad for a 1998.

Four months after having Tori Corolla I tried to have a dog from one of the teachers I taught with at Oak Grove Elementary School. I took Watto to the vet to get his shots and on the way there he decided to hurl - in my backseat. In November of 2000 I was backing out of a parking space and got backed into by the guy that was parked on my left. That was her first accident. She survived and looked as good as new after her surgery. I remember in 2001 when I was working as a social worker in Bakersfield, CA and driving 60 miles one way to work. I'd have one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand trying to find a radio station to make the drive more fun. I remember in January 2001 when I drove from Porterville to Fresno to pick up some of my fraternity and sorority siblings so we could go to WDLC in Los Angeles. I picked up FreakAzoid! first and we drove around Fresno doing a few things before we went to get the rest of the car load. Tori Corolla made it all the way from Porterville to Fresno and down to Los Angeles before her orange light came on. It was on the 405 freeway and Freak and I were a little freaked out lol We also picked Lotte up in Northridge so she could come and I handed her the keys to drive. I remember the times I would drive to the central coast and out in the middle of nowhere roll the windows down with my Micahael W. Smith tape blaring and me singing The Race Is On at the top of my lungs with my head stuck out the window. I remember on my way back from Los Angeles with everyone in the car switching lanes on the 99 and oops there is a dead dog in the middle of the freeway. Tori needed an alignment after that. Sorry Tori. I remember loading up the car to head to WDC 2000 in San Luis Obispo, CA. That was fun. I remember towing her to Okalahoma when I moved here. The first time I got a speeding ticket in Norman, OK, The time I got locked out of my car in Brownwood, TX and there happened to be a guy that did locksmithing as a hobby. He worked patiently to get her unlocked. We discovered when you are locked out of her you can only get in through the passenger side. I remember K.C. my kitty passing away in her on my way to the vet. That was a sad time. I remember all the times I would sit in her preparing myself to go into the jail to face the evil that was there. I'd sit in her and pray and listen to KCBI and read my Bible. I remember the first time I had a heart attack (not really) when Matt one of my fraternity brothers from Minnesota asked to borrow her after his car was stolen while he was out of town and I had watched his place (only time that has ever happened I promise). I remember all the trips to the vet with Holly when she was sick. One time she was laying on the passenger's seat and talking to me as I talked to her at the stoplights. She had lost her meow, but it was so cute. I remember driving to Corpus Christi with Bobby driving so we could go to National Convention 2001. I remember the second time she was injured - in 2003 (the week Mr. Rogers died) en route to work in ice. I remember the second time she got a speeding ticket. And finally her death on April 15, 2010. I know she was just a car, but there were memories. I pray that God will help me to one day get another one. I certainly do need to be able to get to job interviews and to a job once I get one. I don't know at this point if it will ever happen.