. . . the sound of "Taps" playing in the background.



The day has come for my 1995 Honda Accord to go to the graveyard. After 9 years of being a faithful car, it has died. To make a long story short, we need a new engine which would cost almost more than the car is worth.

So without further ado, the history of my car:

Since 1989 my family bought ONLY Hondas. My parents had a 1985 Accord that I eventually bought from them. My brother and sister-in-law had a 1982 Accord that got them through undergrad at UT and grad school at Duke. My mother was driving a 1988 Accord when she was killed. I had a 1992 Accord after my 1985 Accord. My dad bought a brand new 1995 maroon Accord in May of 1995, and I bought a brand new white Accord in October of 1995.

Eventually my dad decided to sell his maroon Honda. We traded cars with each other in July 1997, and I was now the proud owner of his Honda. Why?? You ask. It only had 11,000 miles on it, and my Honda had over 30,000 miles on it, and I knew that I would be driving the car until it died. So fewer miles was a good thing. (Side note: my cousin, Tina, bought my white Honda. It was totaled a few of years later.)

In January 1998, while I was driving to work, I rear-ended a car on Cedar Bluff Road, and that car rear-ended a car. My accident was even on the radio: "There has been a three car accident on Cedar Bluff Road. You should find an alternate route." Is there an alternate route from Kingston Pike to Cedar Bluff? It was NOT a pretty sight. The damage was estimated at over $9,000 which was just shy of the $11,000 amount that would have totaled it.. The car was repaired, and the total bill was almost $13,000. In other words - TOTALED but repaired. I knew that I would be driving this car until it fell apart on the road because it had been "unofficially" totaled, and I'd never get much out of it.

Here we are 8 years later and the time has come. My Honda is leaving us. Appropriately, I was driving the car when it died. Rob normally drove it, because I drive the mini-van with the car seats.

That car took me to work at two elementary schools, and to work at Cornerstone Chruch. It has been to West High School for church more times that I can count. Countless Celebration Conferences. It has been to Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania (Hi Jenn!), etc. It is the first car my boys rode in - unless you count the rolling incubators from the hospital.

Jason and Shelley offered for us to drive their car for a few days until we could get ours fixed. THANK YOU so much, Jason and Shelley! It was extremely kind of you to offer your car.

Now that we know it isn't a short term thing, we're going to use my dad's car until we can find something else. I told Rob that it might take a couple of years to find the car that is just right for us. I'm pretty sure the car seats will fit just fine in the new Camry. I think Rob can drive the van to work.