Welch Whirl

Grief Stricken

It was that time of year when the car needed to have the Safety and Inspection done. We had high hopes for our Honda Accord. We knew she had some problems and so we showed her around town to four different shops hoping that someone would take her under their wing and fix her up right.

She just couldn't pass inspection, unless she had some serious work done. More money would have had to go into her than she was worth to make her safe for the roads again. You should have seen the look on my face after hearing that we should just take her to the "Pick and Pull". How could we do that to our little car that we have loved so much?

After serious thoughts of just keeping her around to rot in our front yard, we finally decided to pull the cord, or cut ties if you will. We sold her to the highest bidder for $100.







This is Ben and I in the final scene with her. In the end we left her with 226,000 miles, no power steering, no air conditioning, a bum battery, she needed new rear breaks and tires, a new steering pump, a new timing belt, new alignment for the engine block, as well as a handful of other smaller items that needed repair in the immediate future. One blessing of this car is that when one thing went wrong the rest of her decided to go shortly thereafter. No terminal illnesses for us. Quick and fast should be every cars ending. She was amazing.



We left her for the larger, younger version and managed to stay in the same family. Even after bringing the new "Honda" home I was still battling with my pride. I DID NOT want to be a van owner/driver. Men look awful driving mini vans, it is acceptable like on road trips and on the way to church, but as a whole I was thinking this look would be devastating to Ben's manhood.









A few weeks have passed and I'm now of the opinion that I can't see how I got along so long without this van. The doors are automatic, the kids can get in it by themselves. Errands have never been so delightful. In a few weeks we are making the journey West and I'm actually looking forward to the awful salt flats and boring scenery in the newest member of the family.

We love her and are still working on a name for her. As for my pride, it has not taken the hit that I thought it would, rather it has gone the other way, I'm a proud owner of a mini-van.

As for Ben driving the van. . . his manhood is still in question.