Dear Honda Accord,
Today is a bitter-sweet day. Today, we took time to say thanks and remember all the times you were there for us. Today, we also said good bye.
Honda, you’ve had a long life. I remember the days before you came into our lives. While Amanda and I were dating, Amanda would often walk or take the bus to her work and school. On nights that she worked late, I’d often pick her up from her work and drive her to her apartment to make sure she was safe. I remember the day Amanda’s dad bought you for her in 2007. Unfortunately she gave you a booboo the first time driving you. She was parking and accidently hit your gas pedal instead of your brake pedal. You drove up the curb and hit a pole. Amanda’s dad fixed you the best he could, removing your damaged fender, adjusting your headlights, and fastening the passenger side door so that it wouldn’t fall off. Since then, with you being a coupe, you became a 1 door car.
A couple years later, I decided to sell my car to my parents, leaving me car-less, but content with a bicycle. I would bike to classes and to church for work, I was a janitor at my church. Several times during extremely hot conditions, Amanda would rescue me from walking/biking to and from work. I remember the time you lost the ability to blow cold air out of your vents. Sadly you lost that ability in Fall of 2009. The problem wasn’t that the A/C went out…it was much worse. You had lost the ability to blow ANY air out of your vents. I think a fan or belt was broken, but we never looked into it.
In 2010, on a very hot day, while getting out of the car the driver’s side door handle broke. That’s when things started to get a bit more difficult. With only 1 functioning door, the door handle of the only working door broken, and the temperature so hot that the tint of the windows would often prevent the window from rolling down made the car dangerous to be in during the summer times. It was mandatory when entering the car to start the engine before closing the driver’s side door and to NOT turn off the car until the driver’s side door was opened when getting out. Failure of doing this could have resulted in us being trapped in the car with no way to get out…aside from possibly honking our horn until someone would open the door for us. Thankfully it never came to that.
Also in 2010 Amanda and I got married. You were our getaway car. Our friends decorated the car with lipstick and tulle after struggling to load the car with all the presents with only one door to open.
Honda, you’ve helped us and you’ve scared us. We’ve been through a lot together. Thanks to my Aunt Genevia and my Mom, we’ve been given a new car. One that will safely carry our almost 3 month old daughter, one that has 4 working doors and working A/C to keep us cool in the hot summer days.
We’ll always remember you, Honda. We sold you to a salvage yard. As we watched you get towed away from our apartment complex, we remembered a few more memories of you. Like when Amanda got pulled over by the cops for having her brights on and not knowing it. Amanda, Boogie, and I went to look at Christmas lights in Ahwatukee and had the oil light come on. Miss Linden drove to our old apartment at Lakefront at West Bay to jump start you. We drove in the rain and the windows fogged up on the inside because you had no air to blow. We got pulled over by the cops with Amanda in the backseat and the cops asked why she was back there. We had to explain that the other door didn’t open. Wherever we parked, you seemed to leak oil. Anytime we went to change your oil or rotate your tires, we had to explain to the workers what a chirp-alarm was.
You’ll always be remembered Honda.
