Ode to My Car

My Dear Goldish/Tan/"Champagne" Camry

You are something else.

You came to this earth in the year 1994 and here you are 11 years later, trucking along like those 180,000 miles never happened.

You are SO good to me.

Never would I have expected to drive a car of such a hue - but as months and miles pass and we travel so many roads together, your color matters less and less to me. All I see is your tireless soul.

The day I got you I knew I was getting something special (besides the Good Daughter Discount).
$4,000 dollars later when I paid you off, I really knew.


You are SO good to me.

I am admittedly not the most vigilant caretaker of your fluids and parts.

I take you for granted dear Camry.

I took you up the hilly roads of the Rockies to Denver, returning to find your alternator was on the brink of death.

I took you up I-15 and across I-80 to Reno and back, only to find your C.V. joints should have left me at the side of the road somewhere in Northern Nevada.

But you did not.

And that is the miracle of you, Dear Camry.

Upon returning from Las Vegas last weekend to see Mr. Yoakam, you were close to bone dry in your chamber of oil.

Yet we made it back.

You are stalwart, faithful and true Dear Camry.
You must really like me. I love you, too.

Please forgive me for my failure to properly care for you.

I know my feeble attempts at vacuuming your interior and washing your outside are small drops of water in the Ocean of Care you so validly deserve.

I'm trying to be better, Dear Camry.

I will check your oil BEFORE you run dry.
I will take you to Steve's when the little sticker says.
I will call Rob immediately when I hear the slightest of a strange noise or murmuring.
I will even shampoo your carpets, I think.

Nothing is too good for you Dear Camry.

I will do my best to preserve you.

I will park you in the shade whenever possible.

I will try and be a more suave, more gentle and kind driver, not the 16-year-old Bat Out of Hell you have come to know and resign yourself to.

Thanks for everything, Dear Camry.

Here's to another 180,000.