R.I.P. Little Thunder

Well I am sorry to advise that after 15 faithful years of service to both my family and myself, my 1990 Nissan Sentra finally gave up the ghost as of this morning. The transmission had been acting up for a while. The Marine had it at work yesterday morning, and when he had to move from where he was parked, he saw a whackload of red tranny fluid on the ground. He took it to AAMCO pronto, and we got the bad news this morning. It's not that Little Thunder is beyond repair, but I'm not willing to spend over $3000 to fix the transmission on a 15 year old car.

Then of course The Marine got the obligatory lecture about how if L.T. had been brought in earlier, it would have been salvagable for $700-800. This conveniently overlooks two things, the first being: the time we did bring it in before and nothing was found to be amiss and the second being that $700 - 800 was not readily available at any given time in the last year. I won't even get into the fact that this tranny was first installed in early 2003, by the same shop for the aforementioned 3K, so this would have been a second transmission. Uh. No.

All I'll say is thank God for CAA. Best damned money I've ever spent.

Practicality aside for a moment, I can't help but be a little sad. L.T. is basically the car I've driven since I learned to drive. I know it like the back of my hand. When I was talking to Ragdoll about it tonight, she said "We were driving around in that car in Grade 13!" I have some great memories about that. In fact, all of mine and Ragdoll's great driving moments have been in Sentras for some reason. There was our summer day's roadtrip to Niagara on the Lake in her Sentra, Fleetwood Mac's Greatest Hits fully cranked. Then Ragdoll's Sentra crapped out and we spent the next summer in mine - although at that time it was really my mother's. Now Ragdoll has a Sentra of her own. How funny is that?

I remember that I could not wait to drive. I turned 16 in March and had my license by August. I loved being able to get myself places and take my friends with me. I didn't really have a good network of friends until the last two years of highschool, so once I got one, we went everywhere it seemed. Lunchtime runs to Sherway Gardens for smoothies at Cultures were a particular favourite.

L.T. has driven me to and from heartache and triumph of all kinds. It's been my saving grace. It ended years of lugging laundry on transit or by taxi, and picking up groceries every night because I could do one big shop once a week instead. It appeared just as my home became a destination point for feline refugees so vet vistis were no problem. It took me to never ending doctor's appointments the year I was sick and has taken me on countless miles of roadtripping through the backways and small towns of Ontario in every season.

I also enjoyed the challenge of keeping L.T. going. It was a point of pride with me, a challenge almost. It's funny how you can be so attached to something inanimate. Yes, it is pride indeed. I enjoyed getting the most out of something in a society where everything is disposable. I think that's the obligation of any material blessing. Take care of things, and use them up well.

But as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. If I'm honest, I think the ol' girl is just damned tired. She doesn't owe anyone a damn thing. And I have to admit that it will be nice to get a newer car, to have A/C again, to have a lined trunk instead of just the metal casing with holes where the wheels are. She's cost a lot of money the last few years, but at the same time, it was money I could find. The last few years, at times, have been a little rough. Having L.T. made all the difference, when it really counted.

Mobility. It's a beautiful thing.