So long, old pal

It's been seven weeks since I bought a "new" car.  "So what?" you ask.  People buy new cars all the time.  

But I had not bought a "new" car in 21 years.  And it had been a "new" car, the quotation marks meaning new for me, but well broken in by others.  It was a 1996 Toyota Corolla, and it had been driven by many people over its first five years, because it had been owned by a rental car company.

It served me well for the next 21 years.  But, like all of us, age takes its toll.  Its mileage was still low for its age, and its engine still worked well.  But problems were beginning to accumulate, and I had shown little interest in maintaining its cosmetic welfare.

So it was time.

I bought another "used car" -- I guess now we use the kinder term "previously owned car."  Another Corolla.  I bought it from a Toyota dealer, so it was spiffed up and looked totally new to my undiscerning eye.  Most important, I knew where to find all the various bells and whistles one needs to use while driving -- when it starts raining, for example, I don't have to fumble around trying to remember where the windshield wipers control is located.  

And my neighbors fully endorse my purchase.  Not having the old 1996 model parked in my driveway probably caused a leap in property values throughout the neighborhood.  Several neighbors have congratulated me, with joy in their eyes.

But still -- you develop a relationship over 21 years.  I didn't try to trade the old car in.  Not after having gotten an on-line estimate of its minimal trade-in value.  Instead, I donated it to a charity.  It's as dignified and respectful an end of our relationship as I could manage.

Still, if you've ever had to take an aged pet to the veterinarian for euthanasia, you know how I felt as I watched my old friend being loaded onto a tow truck.  We'd been through a lot, and it had performed well.  Its deficiencies in its old age were more a matter of my lack of care than of any inherent flaw in the car itself.  To continue my analogy, if you don't take your cat in for its annual shots, eventually your lack of "maintenance" is going to catch up with you.  And with the cat.

But the old Corolla never criticized me.  It served me cheerfully and as well as its age and maintenance allowed.  It smiled bravely as I signed over the title documents, and the tow truck machinery pulled it up onto the back.

The driver was kind of a tough looking guy, and I didn't have the nerve to hug my old friend and kiss him goodbye.  But I know he appreciated that I would miss him,  I only hope they find a good new owner for him.  Maybe a teenager, with little money, but with all the enthusiasm of first car ownership, who will give him the care he now needs?

I hate to think of his becoming an involuntary organ donor.