anneliese kliewer

dear mazda,

remember the day we brought you home? my senior year of high school. you were the best car for me! no camery for this girl, just a beige mazda protege. oh, i know, you were a manual. which was a slight issue for the febuary roads...but we waited. and then learned. kinda.  remember when we went to lincoln because i promised i knew how to drive you? it was a lie. or what about when me, you, & mary wanted to go to target? but we couldn't get into first gear & sat through a whole light cycle. mary said someday we would laugh, i didn't believe her. remember when uncle tom taught us the 'use-the-ebrake-when-you-are-in-a-tight-spot' trick? that saved us a lot of future stress.

you were the best car i have had to date. you kept me safe, got me where i needed to go, and never had any complaints. people didn't understand us, but i saw through that beige 4-door front that you put up. you were cool. i knew, deep down. we understood each other. all you asked for was to be washed on a semi-regular basis, vacuumed a few times too, and washer fluid. that was a must. 

shawn knew i would cry when i heard the news. he thought i would wait until we hung up the phone. i cried while we were still talking. and a few times after we hung up. i miss you. things were going so good, you just got new wiper blades! who would have ever guessed shawn would have to clean you out. you were still so young. so many miles left to go.

i'm sad because you won't be able to take my baby all the great places you took me. i'm sad because that era of driving is over. we made it. all the way through college. i'm sad because there is no other stick-shift like you. 


i love you, mazda. thanks for being the best.


sincerely yours, 
anneliese


my beloved mazda was in a glorified fender-bender a week ago. no human was hurt. today we were informed that the repairs would be much more than the actual money value of the car. so it is ours no longer.