Mourning for Blaine

It's been a sad week for my Civic, Blaine. While visiting my parents last week, my dad noticed the car was leaking antifreeze all over the driveway. So when I got back to College Station, I took Blaine in for a checkup. And found out that the radiator has a big crack in it. And that getting it replaced — and fixing the myriad of other little things that needed attention — was expensive enough to just not be worth it for a now-13-year-old car that's been wrecked and has a lot of other problems.

So my dad told me to top the car off with antifreeze every time I go anywhere, stay in the city limits, and drive until ol' Blaine dies.

When he just won't run anymore, we'll donate him to the Texas Can Academy, where they accept donations of cars (whether or not they're running) and auction them off. The proceeds benefit kids of impoverished families, helping fund their education and basic needs. We did this with the car I learned to drive on, a 1993 minivan with a busted air conditioner. Hopefully it was useful to someone else, and hopefully Blaine can be too.

I knew that my car would eventually have to bite the dust. But I'm sad that it's becoming inevitable. That car was the first big, expensive purchase I ever made. It was the first thing that I worked for and paid off and owned outright. I've had it longer than I've been with Matt. I love that car.