Nella Vita di Neil the Neon

Isn't it funny how particular material possessions become such an important part of us. It's like they are the Velveteen Rabbit and after so many adventures together they become real life friends to us. On Halloween my beloved Neon, Neil, was totalled (I wasn't driving, and the driver wasn't hurt...moral of the story is international UVa student driver + texting while driving + red light = sad little neon). When I found out and in the days after I seriously mourned his loss, like that of a good friend. We'd been through college and grad school together, driven all the way up to Maine and all the way down to Florida. Today I'm reliving that loss as we are finally getting around to scrapping him. His engine and transmission are being torn out to be sold on ebay like a last gift to us (helped by the fact that Shane couldn't just scrap the car knowing there was hundreds of dollars left under the hood). The rest will be taken to the local scrap yard. It's just a car...its purpose was to get me from point A to B, yet to me he was more than that. While I have named my new car (Hermie short for Herman cause he is a big, green monster or at least sounds like one) I have vowed not to get attached...and yet Hermie is already driving his way into my heart. I wonder what else we treasure so highly as our cars? Certainly childhood teddies and blankies. I admittedly have a couple pieces of furniture that fill me with happiness. There are some books that I would be devastated without. Perhaps these inanimate material things are really all just large storage vessels that contain our memories, our highs and our lows. And once they are gone, that tangible link to those memories is broken and it is up to us to carry them forward. Either way, my neon will always have a special place in my heart. May his scrap metal become the future hull of a mighty ship, or a bullet, or a mattress spring, or some other noble cause; and may his engine and tranny pay our mortgage!