Eulogy to the Best Car Ever

Last week, I had to say goodbye to the greatest car that I had ever had. It was the only car I had ever had. A few weeks ago, Ezra's starter stopped working and the transmission eventually went out. I made the sad decision to donate him to NPR since I knew that nobody would love him like I loved him.

I got Ezra when I was sixteen, right after I got my driver's license. I got $5000 from grandma and Bruce found us a 1993 Buick LeSabre. Definitely a grandma car but I didn't car. It was a car. At times I scoffed at it because it wasn't cool or anything like that, but it was so reliable and sturdy.

I missed Ezra when I was off at school. And I know that he's sorry for the transmission going out when Roni was driving it.

He and I went through many long drives together, to and from Idaho. We hated the drive on the 395 and liked the drive up the 5, especially when we got to stop in Berkeley and visit Sonya. He never gave me any trouble on all of those long drives, even though sometimes it was hellish-ly hot and other times the mountains seemed really high and we had to drive really slowly.

Sometimes I drove him too fast and sometimes I wasn't very careful about going over speedbumps or other odd bumps in the road. But he never broke down on me. He never protested. He seemed to content for me to apologize and pat the steering wheel.

Although I never got to experience it myself, I received many compliments on how comfortable the back seat was.

Some of my favorite memories of Ezra include the following:

Driving to the Angels game instead of Bible Study with me, Andy and Garrett in the front sea, Kevin, Cindy and Seth in the backseat. I'm stuprised we weren't scraping the bottom of the car against the ground.

Taking the small group girls bowling and finding a way to get all 10 of us into the car while waiting for parents to come pick them up. Small Group 2010 can still be seen on the windshield when it got really cold or hot.

Almost losing Ezra numerous times because even though he was as big as a boat, he had a nasty tendency of blending in and hiding in parking lots.

Almost getting towed in Hollywood. Bad night. Good car.

Numerous road trips: to and from Idaho, to and from Salt Lake City, LA and San Diego, up to Berkeley a few times.

Getting as many things to fit inside the backseat and trunk, driving across the Bay Bridge to San Francisco, illegally parking in the alley so we could throw everything into Sonya's apartment and then do it all again the next day.

Late night drive through the back roads of Idaho one night with Brittany, singing along to Rent as loudly as we could.

Driving Klaudia and Amanda home after the ugly Christmas sweater party at the Kondo. They were in the backseat under the dinosaur blanket and I was in the front seat looking for a song on my ipod. All of a sudden a police officer knocked on my window. I explained what we were doing and he wished us a good night, despite some weird looks at the girls in the backseat. Go figure...

Driving in the WORST FOG EVER, thinking we were going to die, when Tessa and I drove home from the Jars of Clay concert in Walla Walla.

I know that my lovely Ezra is going to be in a better place now. Raise a glass to the best car that a girl could ever have. I don't care who disagrees. He will always have a special place in my heart and I will miss him dearly.