Subaru Obituary

It's a bittersweet day today as I have to write an obituary for our beloved Subaru Forester. It actually died about 2 weeks ago, but I didn't sell it until today. I placed an add on craigslist and got a huge response. Within minutes I was getting responses and we sold the car to the first person who emailed. I got my full asking price (which was probably way too low--thus the great response) and we closed the deal fast and easy. He payed cash which was nice. I also got to keep the stereo which was significant because it was a stereo I had taken from Kenny's Pathfinder before my parents got rid of it. Kelly just had his car broken into and his stereo was stolen, so I was really happy to give him Ken's old stereo. I just hope we can get it working.
Now I am going to fix my white Land Rover. I actually wanted to keep it as an off-roader, but it's going to have to be transportation now. This is good because we didn't need to have 3 cars. The money from the Subaru should cover most of the costs of repairing the disco, so I'm pleased.

No one else may care about this, but I'm going to write a little about our subaru. I can remember very clearly when we first decided to buy the subaru, it was during my first year of dental school. It was significant because it was the first car that I ever picked and bought completely on my own. Every other car I've ever had, I only had because someone had been nice enough to let me have it. So many people drive cars that reflect their personality, or the image they want to publicly display. For example, Ken Hendricks and his buicks, now prius. My friend Marcus and his Lexus. It was interesting to me to find out what kind of car Ginna and I would choose for ourselves. Maybe that's dorky, but we chose the subaru forester.
I can remember test driving it and being so nervous about pulling the trigger and buying it. I couldn't really tell if it was a good car or not. It drove nicer (whatever that means) than anything we had, but was it going to be a lemon, or a great buy?
It didn't take long for me to screw up while changing the oil and drain the transmission fluid instead. The tranny blew up on our way to St. Louis to buy Sultan. It was a huge disaster. And I didn't even know it was my fault until a couple years later.
The day we picked up the car from the dealer, Ginna was out of town and I spent all night trying to put in a new stereo. I finally got it to work, but only after a huge pain in the rear and many trips to Best Buy. The next morning I was driving to school and feeling very cool in my new ride. No offense to the lovers of the buick, but going from the junky, rattley, park avenue--a car that felt like it should have been my grandparents--to the forester was a very hip transformation. I was so pumped about the new ride that I sped right into a speed trap and got a ticket.
More than anything, the subaru will always be the Kansas ice storm car. We braved many ice storms while crossing the plains during winter to visit family in Utah. Plus the subaru didn't have cruise control and it always made my leg really hurt after 18 hours of driving.
So farewell, dear subaru, we'll miss you. Thanks for the good times, road trips, drive-in movies and ice strom bravery.
Oh, and Sultan really liked riding in the back.
Funny how a few benjamins take all the sadness away.