The Storm Passes

Today is a sad day that Hubby and I have lived through numerous times in the last few years. Despite having to go through the wrenching pain of separation and saying good-bye, we hope that our decisions are for the best and that those we left behind will remember us with affection if and when we see them again. I am, of course, talking about our cars.

The first, and probably most difficult parting took place in the Midwest back in 2005 when we left the flat, brown prairies for the sweltering heat of New Delhi. Trinity, our 2004 Toyota Matrix XRS, was a beauty of engineering – a six speed manual transmission with all the bells and whistles deserving of a first true love. (Not that we didn’t love our first car, a Ford Contour named Sporty, but deep down I loved Trinity more.) Trinity was purchased back by the dealer and all we have left of her are our tear-stained memories.

Perhaps that’s why we made a promise to ourselves not to become too emotionally attached to Red, the Honda City we drove in Delhi. Technically, Red belonged to the Organization that Hubby worked for but since he lived with us, we considered him ours for the year we lived there. (Yes, we not only give names but also assign sexes to our cars. Sporty, in case you were wondering, was also a boy.)

Upon our arrival in Nairobi, we discovered that taxis were stupid expensive, which meant that we needed to purchase a car post haste. We took into account the pot holed roads and our budget and eventually decided that a Nissan X-Trail was the car for us. The station wagon-like SUV had great clearance, got good mileage, and fit in our budget. As my father would say, it was a done deal.

We purchased our X-Trail several months after the release of the debacle that was “X-Men the Last Stand.” As a longtime comic book geek and given the X-Name, I immediately decided that our new car would be named after an X-Man, preferably Storm or Rogue. The latter has always been my favorite X-Man but the former, whose real name is Ororo Munroe, is Kenyan. I explained my thought process to several men in the transportation department of Hubby’s office and they voted to name her Storm.

After two great years together, Hubby’s new job took us away from Kenya to Egypt where cars drive on the American side of the road. Sadly, this meant that we would have to say good-bye to Storm. We posted notices in newsletters, bulletin boards, and even with random strangers hoping to find her a good home. Unfortunately, we were unable to do so before we left East Africa.

Earlier this week, Hubby called me from work and told me that the deed was done. We had finally sold Storm to a friend of a friend, of a friend. Even though I haven’t seen the grey X-Trail in months, I am still somewhat vaklempt about the break.

Several people have asked us why we don’t have a car here in Cairo and we’ve given them the usual answers about the insanity of driving in this city, the utter lack of parking in our neighborhood, and the cost of buying a car without the duty free privileges we have become used to in recent years. But when all is said and done, I think that Hubby and I are simply afraid to love again.

Goodbye Storm. We knew you when.