My Knight Lost His Steed

Even before the wheel-disconnecting-from-vehicle-while-driving-down-the-road incident, Jeff knew his Jeep had problems.  It was old and sort of junky (in the nicest possible way) when Jeff got it a number of years ago, and it had faithfully carried Jeff to and from the barber shop many, many times, in all sorts of weather, since then.  Periodically Jeff tinkered with it, fixing up its various ailments with duct tape, bungee cords, and (no joke) surgical scissors.  But it was now 30 years old and was wearing out, plain and simple.  Would it be worth the cost to get all the repairs made that were needed?  Probably not.  The Jeep's days were numbered.

After the wheel/axle trouble, it was a no-brainer.  Time to say goodbye and let it go.  Fortunately, the customer of Jeff's who was already planning, even before the wheel incident, to look at the Jeep and try to fix it up for Jeff was interested in buying it, so Jeff sold it to him.  I don't think Jeff shed a single tear.  ;-)

I'm not shedding any tears either, because more than anything I want Jeff to have a safe, reliable vehicle.  But I'll sheepishly confess that I'll kind of, sort of, miss the ol' beast.  No more will I hear Jeff coming down the road, downshifting to turn into the driveway.  No more will he come roaring up to the house and noisily pull into the garage.  No more will the Jeep occasionally backfire, scaring me and the neighbors with what sounds for all the world like a gunshot.  No more will the boys get to go out to breakfast with their daddy in the Jeep.  No more will I think about the day when Josiah is old enough to drive and how much fun he would have driving that old thing.  It's over.

The steed has been shot out from under my knight; and my knight--ever resilient, ever forward-looking--doesn't seem to mind.  But silly sentimental me has to pause and take a moment...

...simply to bid farewell to a piece of metal and rubber and wires and glass...that happened to be part of our family life here in our Virginia years.

Goodbye, ol' friend.