To the One I Love...

Today is Valentine’s Day and the one I love was taken from me this morning. My car, Baby, went into the shop today for a minimum of two weeks. We’ve never been apart for this long. I don’t think many people understand how much I love my car, mainly because I keep pretty quiet about my devotion to her. But I do. I love her. I love everything about her. We spend a lot of time together, usually without anyone else, and I just love her. I love that her license plate starts with AH so that every time I see her I go “Ah, there she is!”

She has taken such good care of me and saved my life on more than one occasion. So, Baby, thank you.

Thank you for starting every single time.
Thank you for not ever blowing a tire even though I drove them well past the point of needing to be replaced.
Thank you for never letting me steer you into an accident.
Thank you for not being damaged after I got you stuck on that snowbank at Rob’s house.
Thank you also for not being damaged after that stick got stuck underneath you.
Thank you for putting up with the fact that I gave you such a ridiculous and girly name.
Thank you for putting up with the monster puppet I insist must live on your dashboard.
Thank you for getting me away from all the other drivers I give the finger to.
Thank you for not killing me on any and all of the following occasions:

*The time it was snowing and I got us lost in the serious ghetto of Philadelphia
*The time your brakes gave out
*The time we drove to the middle of bumblefuck Amish country in the freezing cold to a wedding neither of us wanted to go to, a trip that required several harrowing miles through curvy mountain roads undergoing construction
*Every time I drove on the westbound span of the Bay Bridge and had my mini-panic attack and my hands started to sweat and my vision got fuzzy and I probably should not have been driving
*Every time I drove up and back to class in the middle of Philadelphia , with its ridiculous highways and deranged Pennsylvania drivers (Seriously, there’s something wrong with those people)
*The time I was driving home from the beach and the road flooded and we had to pull off
*The other time I was driving home from the beach and it was raining so hard I couldn’t see and we had to crawl along for miles seeing only the flashing hazards of the car in front of us
*The time we took Giulia to the beach and drove through a similar storm, only it was dark and there was no one else on the road
*The time we drove Thate down that crazy-ass road near her house in yet another thunderstorm
*Every time I drove up and back to Poughkeepsie, thank you especially for not breaking down in front of the serial killer’s house…that could have ended badly
*Every time I drove you drunk (I’m really really sorry about that. I’ll stop.)

I’ll miss you, Baby. I drove a different car today and it just felt wrong. I hope that they are nice to you at the shop and that you don’t need a new roof. I’ll see you in a few weeks.